I'd Kill You For Nothing
by Cyberbird09
Summary: Chaos has been exorcised from Vincent's body. Now that he's a changed man, he ventures out to reunite with his friends...one of which he begins to fall for. YUFFIETINE with very little Vinifa/Cloti/VinOC. SongFic. Dirge of Cerberus doesn't excist. Enjoy!
1. See the Sun

**CHAPTER 1 - SEE THE SUN**

Is it gone?

There was complete darkness as Vincent Valentine breathed heavily. He was tied down to a stone platform – the leather straps tore at his skin with every movement, not to mention they were cutting off his circulation. They were around his head; they were around his arms, stomach, legs, and one little twitch gave him instant pain – like a needle entering his skin over and over. His long back hair was gone; shaven off as if it had never existed. Vincent was naked, and he felt uncomfortable about it, with black symbols painted all over his body. He did not recognize the symbols – except for the mouthlike figure painted on his abs. It resembled the mouth of Chaos, the demon inside of him, or, really, the demon that _used_ to be inside of him but he still wasn't quite sure. Did the ceremony work?

Vincent was perspiring profoundly and the black paint was beginning to melt off – this scared him. He moved his bald head slowly to the left, trying hard not to create more pain to his body. He saw a glimmer of candlelight – above it was the ceremonial director…Decko Rouse, a short old man, he and his cult worshipped Chaos but their god had went missing – and as told in the prophecy – a man would come to them with the god's spirit and power implanted in him. When Vincent heard this from Decko – he almost didn't believe it – they were the only group of people on the Planet that could help him. He was afraid; according Decko, this sort of exorcism had never been performed before because Chaos was no ordinary demon. Vincent knew that he had to do it – he was desperate. He saw the thing he was becoming; he saw what he already was. Everyone knew that he was broody, alone, depressed and he had to admit it – he was. But how could he not, with all that had happened to him. Yet, something had changed within him, it was the last conversation that he had with one of his friends during their victory party at the Seventh Heaven…yes…he remembered…

It was about three years ago.

_You can't hide here any longer  
My God you need to rinse those puffy eyes  
You can't last here any longer  
And you probably don't want to hear tomorrow's another day_

_And I promise you you'll see the sun again  
And you're asking me why pain's the only way to happiness  
And I promise you you'll see the sun again  
Come on take my hand  
We're going for a walk, I know you can  
You can wear anything as long as it's not black_

_Please don't mourn forever  
__**She's **__not coming back_

_And yes they'll ask you where you've been  
And you'll have to tell them again and again_

_And you probably don't want to hear tomorrow's another day_

_And I promise you you'll see the sun again_

_So be thankful you knew __**her**__ at all  
But it's no more_

_I promise you you'll see the sun again_

_ Dido (See the Sun) _

They had just defeated Kadja and his gang. The geostigma was gone from the Planet. There was no happier place then the Seventh Heaven. He recalled two proposals that happened that night. Cid had proposed to Shera, everyone acted surprised, but no one really was. Then, the unexpected happened, Cloud got onto his knees and proposed to Tifa. Vincent remembered the crying, the laughing, the hugging and the toasting…he recalled everything about that night. As Tifa hugged Cloud she peered over at Vincent – he was standing by the far wall – a tonic and lime in his hand – for Vincent didn't drink – she smiled warmly at him. … _No one knew…no one knew about them. _Vincent smiled back at her. It was a small smile but Tifa appreciated it just the same.

Memory over came Vincent, so, with a heavy heart, he left the Seventh Heaven without a word to anyone. Only one person noticed his sudden absence…before he could get half way down the street, Yuffie K. came tumbling after him.

"Vinnie! Vinnie boy!"

Vincent stopped in his tracks and grunted something under his breath, he remembered it wasn't positive. "Yuffie, why did you follow me?"

"Because you left in the middle of the party, you pooper!" she giggled widely as she approached him. "Where do you think you're going anyway?"

"Back to the mansion," he replied plainly. He then turned away from the 18 year old ninja and kept on walking. Yuffie was not going to take that from him.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Vincent Valentine don't you turn your back to me!"

"And why not?" he asked deeply, not expecting an answer since he was still walking away.

"Because, you stupid son-of-a-bitch," Vincent's eyes widened, Yuffie always swore but her tone of voice was very different. "You're not the only one who's lost something!" Yes, Yuffie was serious now. He had never heard her say a sentence with such genuineness. Vincent stopped again and turned to her – she was not crying but her face was sad and almost lonely. "What?" was all he could muster.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she said bluntly. She shook her head at him, like he was a misbehaving child. Vincent was a little offended by it. "You're like some suicidal bastard who can't see how good he's really got it!"

"Yuffie, leave me alone, for once in your sorry life," Vincent turned to leave again.

"Oh, you did not just describe my life as 'sorry'!" she sounded a bit furious now. "I'm not the one who spent a miserable 50 years in a God forsaken COFFIN!"

"You wouldn't understand…" and besides, he thought, it was only 30 years.

"My mother died when I was 6 years old Vincent, right in front of me. My father hates my guts…he…he wishes that I was never born, Vincent…I'll have to rule all of Wutai very soon…with a man I won't even know and probably won't even _love_!"

"Yuffie…"

"She's dead, Vinnie…let it go."

That was it…she spoke of Lucrecia. He walked up to her and grabbed her scrawny neck. He didn't grab her hard but enough so he could hopefully make a point. "_Shut up_." Yuffie spoke calmly still, even with one of her friend's hands on her throat. "You can't mourn forever…she's _not_ coming back."

"I _don't_ want to hear it from a kid like you."

"Then who will you hear it from? Huh? Not Cloud, Tifa, Cid or Barret! You don't listen to anyone!"

"Please, Yuffie…"

"You're hurting me, Vincent."

Vincent suddenly realized that he was tightening his grip…he immediately let go and looked away in embarrassment. "I'm…are you...okay?"

Yuffie rubbed her neck gently, "I'll live…"

"Yuffie, please, just let me handle _my own_ life," he, once again, tried to walk away from her – but he suddenly felt the young ninja princess hug his back.

"Don't you see what's happening?" she sobbed. "Don't become…don't become that thing! We're here for you Vinnie, all of us."

"I…"

"You didn't even hear what Cloud said before you left did you?"

"I…no…"

"He said that he wanted you to be his best man for the wedding and I've seen the way Tifa looks at you too, Vincent! You were her support when Cloud was gone; you helped her get through it all."

"Yuffie…"

"Little Marlene loves you like an uncle!"

"Please…" he was pleading her to stop…but something was melting inside him.

"I know Barret and Cid can be a little stupid and obnoxious but they care for you too!"

Vincent turned to look at the young lady who was holding him.

"And I…" Yuffie suddenly stopped. A faint tint of red brushed her face.

"Yuffie…"

"Please," she sighed. "Become the person you truly want to be…because I know you want to."

"I can't…"

"There is no can't…" she sniffed and lowered her head but it was immediately up again with a tearful smile on her face. "Since when did The Great Vincent Valentine say he couldn't do something!? He's the most powerful being in the universe! Evil doers beware! He…"

"Yuffie, that's enough."

"Vincent, I…" She stood on her tip-toes, placed her hands on his chin and kissed his cheek gently. Vincent had not been kissed in anyway shape or form since Lucrecia…all those years ago. He just stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds with Yuffie looking up at him, blushing and with tears still on her face.

"Yuffie…"

She nodded, "I know, we're polar opposites and I'm a loud, crazy brat of a teenage girl but…there was no better time to do it! Don't you agree?!" She smiled silly-like at him. She was back to the old Yuffie…and he wondered if it was always a cover for how she really felt all the years he'd known her.

"Yeah…right." Vincent rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh laugh it off Vinniekins! It was just a peck on the cheek! I figured it would be the only way you'd listen!"

"Yeah…"

"Do you promise me you'll clean yourself up now?"

"What?" he looked at her for a moment. She might have been back to the old Yuffie but Vincent saw another side of her for the first time…and he wondered if he was the only one who ever had. She was young, overly energetic, and yes…a brat…but something else too…something much more. He was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time…and it wasn't just because she kissed him.

"Promise me you'll do something about yourself! Pleeeeeese!" She stuck out her lip like a little toddler. "You'll see the sun again if you do! I promise!"

"I…" he glanced at the ground. I can't believe it, he thought, she's right. "Yes."

"Really!?" she squealed with delight and grabbed his arm. "Come on Vinnie; let's get back to the party!"

"Okay, but you'll have to promise me something in return as well," he said it very casual like, as if it wasn't really very important, but it was, for some reason, it was to him.

"What?" the teen inquired.

"Be _you_ as much as possible," he said calmly and deeply. "Don't hide anything."

Yuffie went weak in the knees, he could tell, but she retained herself quickly. "Sure," she said softly. "No problemo boss!"

Vincent stayed in Midgar for a little less than a year, for Cloud and Tifa's sake and he was glad he did, for the wedding was beautiful. Barret and Cid stood behind Vincent and he remembered patting Cloud's shoulder as they waited for Tifa to come down the isle. "Relax," Vincent said quietly. Cloud just turned to him and gave him a nervous smile. Vincent tilted his head to see Yuffie on the bride maid's side with Shera and two of Tifa's other girl-friends who he didn't know. Yuffie squinted her eyes and nose when she looked back at him but then smiled warmly right after. He gave her one of his small smiles back. It wasn't long after Denzel came down the isle with the ring and Marlene with the flower basket. Tifa came behind them; almost floating because she was so light on her feet. Tears were in her eyes; Vincent knew that she had been waiting for this moment her whole life. She came up the isle, her dress dipped down the front and was white, elegant and weightless – like a silk night gown – only she had a thin, royal blue sash around her waste. Vincent noticed a teary wink from Tifa to him as she came to stand across from Cloud and he nodded in return. Vincent stayed long enough for the pictures and the reception at the end but then, the very same day, he left for the mansion to change his clothes. He dressed in his traditional AVALANCHE outfit – headband and all – then left Midgar to find anyone that could help him. He turned off his phone and left no note, no phone messages, and no word. He thought that it would be best that way. He had not heard from any of them since.


	2. The Exorcism

**Chapter 2 - The Exorcism**

"Do not move Vincent Valentine." There came a voice from the darkness around him. He recognized it – Decko Rouse. Vincent slowly turned his head in the other direction. There was candlelight on that side as well. The other worshipers of Chaos were huddled around him. Vincent tried to think – isn't it over? Apparently not, for above him the roof of the large, clay building he was in began to lift. It was an opening just large enough for the sun's light to shine through. It was noon – it must have been. Before Vincent could think about the situation there was instant pain in his whole body. He screamed softly from the first reaction but the pain did not stop. His screams became louder and louder. What was happening to him?

"I'm going to die…" he thought calmly even though he was being torn apart inside. "But it's the only way…"

"Everto Chaos," Decko's voice was booming. "Deus ruina, licentia totus humanus viscus secundum."

"The old language of the Planet," thought Vincent, as the pain got stronger.

"Vir postulo non patientia."

Vincent screamed louder as he saw a white mist arise from his body – was it his soul?

"Vos postulo non terminus."

No, it was Chaos. He saw the demon's face look wearily at him as it rose into the air. Chaos tried to hold on to the body he was leaving – but it was no use.

"Adeo nos!"

Chaos moaned sadly as he floated toward the sun – back to the heavens.

"ADEO NOS!"

The pain was gone and Vincent watched the creature slowly float above and beyond him. Vincent had tears in his eyes; both from seeing the demon leave him forever…and, of course, from the recent pain. It was like a dream, and although Vincent was bleeding from his nose and ears, and had marks on his body from tensing against the leather ropes, he was alright, and he felt considerably lighter. The demon was almost to the sky of the building. It gave out one last moan, and then called out:

"**EGO sum totus vox vos mos umquam occupo**!"

"Good-bye," whispered Vincent and then, he fainted.

--

_A/N: Okay, I fixed this chapter because I messed up on it...a lot more than I thought :P yay it's better now!_


	3. The Next Day's Results

**Chapter 3 - The Next Day's Results**

When Vincent awoke, he discovered that he was in a medical facility. Bandages covered his entire body; it was almost comical. He sat up, careful not to damage himself any further. The room was not like any other hospital he had been in. For one thing, it was not white, but a reddish clay. He assumed he was still in the tall clay building that the Chaos worshippers resided at…Chaos…had the ceremony really worked? Or was it just a dream? He heard voices; he lay back down on his bed before the people making the voices came in. It was Decko Rouse and a woman, Vincent had never seen her before. She was petite, not very skinny, but not fat either, dark brown eyes and short, wavy blonde hair that came right above her shoulders. She looked like she was in her early twenties.

"Hello, Mr. Valentine!" Decko said cheerfully. If this man was cheerful, it must have worked, thought Vincent.

"Hello," he replied back plainly. Vincent was happy yes, but he was a bit tired to be talking with someone so energetic.

"Let me first introduce my daughter, Alfina Rouse," the woman walked over to Vincent and stretched out her hand for him to shake, which he did…awkwardly because of the bandages.

"I'm very pleased to meet you," she said with a smile.

"The same," Vincent answered.

"Well," said Decko. "Now that we all know each other, I'm glad to say that the exorcism worked wonderfully!"

"That's good," Vincent said tiredly.

"You did not die, which, of course, is great news!" he laughed heartily. Vincent smiled weakly. Alfina impatiently nudged her father to continue.

"Ahem, yes, well, my daughter and I are here to ask you a few questions for the record. Is that okay with you?"

Vincent saw no harm in it, "It's alright."

Alfina rubbed her eyes, she looked tired too. "Okay, first question: How do you feel?"

--

The questions didn't last long, but some of them were a little embarrassing, especially since a _woman_ was asking them. For example: "It says here, Mr. Valentine that you have not been _sexually active_ for awhile. Did you have any pain in your…?" Well, you get the picture. There was one question that was quite interesting though.

"Do you remember the exorcism?" she asked.

Vincent was ready to answer but then paused. He didn't quite know if it was what he really remembered or if most of it was a dream. He remembered everything _before_ the exorcism – but everything else was just a blur. "I only remember some, everything else is just a haze."

"Don't worry," said Alfina. "We figured you wouldn't quite remember."

"Right, now Valentine, if you don't mind me saying so, I think you should stay here for a week or two so you can get your strength back," said Decko.

"Of course," he wasn't going to appear strong when he knew deep down that he wasn't. "I must pay you back. I don't have much gil but…"

"You've done enough son!" Decko exclaimed. "You've brought our god back to us, we are ever so grateful for that!"

"But it was also a chance to help myself too," he said wearily. "I would just like to help you and your people as much as I can."

Decko pondered for a moment. "Well, if you insist, I suppose we could use someone of your talent to teach our people the ways of combat."

"You want me to train your people to fight?"

"You are an ex-Turk of Shinra are you not?" Decko gave a slight glare.

Vincent was uncomfortable with this arrangement. "Well, yes but…"

"Father," Alfina piped in. "With the Lord Chaos back, we will not need our people to fight like before."

Vincent was a bit confused. "You've had trouble in the past?"

Decko looked sad. He rubbed the small bald spot on his head. This actually made Vincent remember that he was lacking hair as well. "Yes, many of our people have died long years without Lord Chaos to protect us. Many people have assumed that we will destroy the Planet with the demon Chaos – but that is not our intention!"

"Yes, you told me when I arrived; you wish to help the Planet by using Chaos the next time it is in danger."

"Exactly, Valentine," replied Decko his tone of voice was quite emotional. "If you will please excuse me, my daughter will inform you on the rest…good-bye for now." He left the room in a hurry.

There was an awkward silence after Decko left the room. Alfina just stared at her papers – thinking intently. Vincent just stared at the door – dumbfound that the man who just performed probably the most complex exorcism on the Planet began to get worked up over a few killings. "My mother died 7 years ago in a gun raid," Alfina's voice was almost robotic but Vincent could sense the grief she hid. "He hasn't been the same since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Vincent replied.

"Yes, well," she pushed some of her short blonde hair behind her left ear. "I don't think anyone can really say they've lived until someone they love has been lost to them."

Vincent knew it all too well. "I agree."

"Well, back to business," she looked over her papers and folders that she had with her. "Ah yes, it seems that Lord Chaos was the result of your agelessness." She spoke in a-matter-fact voice.

"Really?" Vincent wondered. He had not known what kept him so alive and young for 30 years in a rotting mansion. It never occurred to him that it was Chaos.

"Yes," said Alfina. "Now that Chaos is gone, you should age normally now."

This concerned Vincent quite a bit. "Do mean to say that I will be a 56 year-old man by the end of the week?"

Alfina looked at him questionably, and then laughed. "Oh no, no, no!" she contained herself. "You will age normally as you are now! It will be as if you were born 26 years ago, instead of being 26 over 30 years ago, okay?" Vincent nodded. This made him feel better. Vincent was not afraid of growing old, but he was not too keen on growing old very, very fast.

"You know, of course, that you will never have the power Chaos gave you in times of need, right?"

"Yes."

"But it seems that you still have the other demons from Professor Hojo," Alfina stated. Hearing the name of Hojo used to make Vincent wince, not anymore. "But they seem to be only minor to what Chaos has done to you."

"That is fine," he replied. The other demons were not a threat to his companions…he remembered the night he almost choked Yuffie.

"So you will still be able to use…what are the names?" she searched through her folders.

"Galian Beast, Death Gigas, and Hellmasker," Vincent stated.

"Um, yes, you can still use them in battle," she smiled at him. "But it seems Death Gigas and…what was it? Oh yes, Hellmasker are unstable from the exorcism – your only safe bet would be using Galian Beast I'm afraid." Vincent began to notice, she was a very beautiful woman…kind too…he wondered if she was married, or had a boyfriend. Her breasts were almost perfect too…medium sized and perky. Wait…what was he thinking!? Since Lucrecia, Vincent had never thought that way about any woman…or at least…not so bluntly.

"So, I think that's it for now," Alfina stood to leave. "The Doctors will be in and out of here for a week or so to check on you."

"You still haven't quite given me a job to do to repay you, uh, your people…you AND your people." He stumbled – oh great – it was like being a teenager again.

Alfina giggled. "Well," she said. "You said you used to be a Turk right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Well, you could be a guard for us."

"A guard…you mean, keeping watch at the front door of this place?"

"Sure," she replied.

Vincent thought for a second. It was better then teaching a whole entire community how to kill in defense. "When do I start?" he asked with a small smile.

"As soon as you're out of that bed," Alfina left and Vincent was all alone once again.


	4. Her Name

**Chapter 4 - Her Name...**

Vincent stayed in the community for almost half a year. He was out of the hospital bed by the end of the week and started his new job as the official "door" guard the very next day. Vincent's strength began to return to him in no time and his hair began to grow back (to his advantage). He became very close with Alfina and her father and made many other new friends from the community. But he mostly just kept to himself - sitting on his bed reading, watching the news, or just observing the landscape out his window. He began to remember more and more of what happened during the exorcism. He remembered Chaos leaving his body and he remembered the cloaked figures, the darkness. It was horrible, but it was what needed to be done. He was now free of Chaos and all of his monstrous attributes. He was in his room while he thought of this; 5 months after the exorcism. The street lights from the city below the mountain gave off a faint hue of white and sparkled, like little stars. There was a knock on his door; no one ever came to visit him.

"Come in," he said deeply.

The door opened slowly with a creak; there was Alfina Rouse. She was in casual clothes, like always, and her short blonde hair was pinned to the side with a bobby pin. She smiled shyly at him as he stood to greet her.

"Hello," he said. He wanted to ask what brought her here at this time of night but she didn't give him time to ask. She walked slowly up to him and placed her pale hands around his neck. She began to move her face closer to his, closing her eyes in the process. Vincent closed his eyes too; he had not felt like this in a long time…but there was something off. Alfina pressed her cold lips against Vincent's. They stood there for a few seconds, then Alfina opened her mouth, forcing Vincent's to open his as well, but he did not let it go any further…something still didn't feel right.

"Alfina," Vincent broke away from her kiss.

Alfina breathed slowly. She took her hands away from Vincent's neck and quickly walked over to a chair next to his bed and sat down. "I'm so stupid…"

Oh great, now she's going to wallow in self pity. "You're not stupid," Vincent replied. He sat on his bed next to the chair.

"Yes," she said softly. "I am."

Awkward silences were not new to Vincent, especially around him and Alfina. After another one of there long pauses that they frequently had with each other, Alfina spoke up. "I should have known, the way you always look out into space, there's someone else isn't there?"

"Why would you…"

"Isn't there?"

"No," Vincent didn't even think about it – he felt that he didn't need too. "There's no one else."

Alfina moved closer to him lifting herself off the chair. "Then why…" she reached to kiss him again but Vincent turned his head. "I don't love you, Alfina…I'm sorry."

She backed away and nodded, as if she was expecting the answer. A small tear fell down her face as she sat back in the chair – she tried to hide it by quickly wiping her face – but that made it all the more noticeable. "It isn't that you aren't beautiful, or smart, or anything like that," Vincent was trying to make her stop crying. "It's just…I don't…" What could he say? You aren't my type? No, that wasn't it (plus it sounded corny). She was a wonderful person and she helped him so much by making him feel comfortable here but there was something missing…

"My father told me to tell you that you have done enough for us," she suddenly said. Vincent looked at her with confusion. "You may leave, Vincent Valentine. Thank you for all that you've done."

"Are you sure?" Vincent placed his hand on hers – she stood and slipped from his grasp.

"Yes," she walked towards the door. "I'm sure your friends in Midgar miss you terribly. Good-bye Vincent Valentine." She had never called him by his full name before. It was at first, Mr. Valentine, then just Vincent…she never resorted to calling him Vinnie…oh yes!…Yuffie…he wondered if she was the same old little kid, even though she would be 22 now…A young lady. He had almost forgotten that Alfina was standing at the door; he broke his train of thought and stared back at her. She was smiling and it was the widest smile he had ever seen her give.

"What's her name?" she said simply.

"There's no one…" but he knew that Alfina wasn't going to leave until he told her. "I'm going to pack," he said. There, maybe that would make her go away. Alfina's smile was gone and without another word, she left his room.

_Here am I  
Yet another goodbye!  
He says Adiós, says Adiós,  
And do you know why  
She won't break down and cry?  
- she says Adiós, says Adiós, Goodbye._

_My, oh my!  
She was aiming too high.  
He says Adiós,  
And now you know why  
There's no moon in her sky  
- he says Adiós, says Adiós, Goodbye._

_ Enya (One by One) _

--

Standing outside of the "Chaos Community" (as he decided to call it) Vincent was packed and ready to head back to Midgar. He didn't know how or if he would be welcomed, he _did_ leave without a trace after the wedding. It had been four years since he had seen any of them and he suddenly wondered how Yuffie would handle it. He smiled at the thought of her reaction. "Vinnie!" she would scream in a high-pitch voice. "Why did you LEEEEEAAAVVE so SOOOON?" then she would cry uncontrollably. He breathed out a slight chuckle.

"Hello."

He turned to see the petite Alfina standing right behind him. "Waiting for the bus?" she asked as she stood beside him on the curb. "It should be coming soon."

"Yes, thank you," he replied. Another awkward pause, he thought. Oh the humanity.

"Who is she?" Alfina asked bluntly. Vincent should have seen it coming.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" he sighed calmly.

"I've noticed," she said, "the 5 months you've spent here, you've never looked at me the way you've looked out into space." Vincent turned his head to her. The wind started to pick up and his black hair (which was now short) began to bounce in the wind. "You're leaving soon," Alfina continued, "and I'll never see you again."

Vincent knew this, he probably would never return to this place. He looked closely at Alfina, he couldn't remember someone ever missing him this much because he was leaving, except for maybe Yuffie, but she always over exaggerated her emotions. Yet he remembered that evening…she showed her true self to him before he left after the battle with Kadja. "I just want to know…" That's right, Alfina was still here talking to him.

"I just want to know her name," There were no tears in Alfina's eyes. "Is it the girl…who birthed Sephiroth?" At the word "Sephiroth" Vincent grabbed Alfina and held her shoulders tightly. "I loved her, yes," Vincent stated; he did not break eye contact with Alfina. "I've loved her for over 33 years." Alfina sighed. "But she was weak." Alfina did not know what to say to this. She was weak? "She chose science over love and she chose guilt over forgiveness and when she died…after all those years, I still mourned and loved her." Alfina placed her hands on Vincent's hands still on her shoulders. "But a few years ago, a young girl," Vincent corrected himself. "A young _woman_ told me that I was a son-of-a-bitch for living in the past. That same woman inspired me to come here and get your god out of my body, no matter what the cost."

The bus to Canhaine (which he would then transfer to Midgar) arrived. Vincent took his hands off Alfina's shoulders and picked up his bags.

"Her name," he said, as the bus doors opened, "is Yuffie Kisaragi."


	5. Back at the Seventh Heaven

**Chapter 5 - Back at the Seventh Heaven**

Let's just say the bus ride was fucking torture. You name it; it happened on the bus that Vincent Valentine was taking to Midgar. Yes, the woman sitting next to him threw up because she was car sick. Yes, a man tried to rob him by pretending to bump into him (Vincent taught him a lesson). And yes, there were crying babies…notice the word BABIES. Not just one, not even two. There were four, FOUR miserable babies on the bus – all of them communicating by screaming at the top of their lungs. He was glad that his cell phone had a built in mp3 player. He had told Cloud that he wouldn't need it, but Cloud insisted that he'd buy the one with the mp3 player saying, "Hey, you never know." Well, he had to admit it, Cloud was right. Vincent listened to The Black Mages, a group Cloud suggested he'd try, on repeat the whole 8 hours on the bus. They were a bit "hard core" for Vincent's taste (who preferred classical music) but it was music all the same and it _did_ drown out the screeching infants. The 8 hours were slow but like all things, they ended soon enough. Vincent had left the Chaos Community around noon so it was around 9pm when he got off the bus at Midgar. The bus driver waved good-bye as he sped off and Vincent waved in return. After the bus left, Vincent immediately stopped and put his hand down, "Good riddance," he thought.

It wasn't a long walk to the Seventh Heaven and as he walked Vincent began to wonder how everyone had changed. Marlene and Denzel would be 14 years old – quite a large step from 10. Yes, they were definitely grown-up now. Tifa and Cloud would be his age, 26; he wondered how their marriage was going. Barret and Cid he couldn't remember, but they must have looked older - Barret for having a teenage daughter and Cid for being married to Shera for four years. Vincent turned the last corner to the Seventh Heaven and saw it before him. It hadn't changed, except for maybe a new coat of gray paint and a new sign that said "No Smoking." He walked up to the door and knocked gently, there was no answer. He tried to see if it was open and sure enough it was. It was a Sunday, so Tifa would be closing up soon; he would catch her just in time. The door opened slowly with a creak.

"Hello?" Vincent said softly, thinking that Tifa would be just around the corner. "Tifa, are you there?"

_Like a ghost don't need a key  
Your best friend I've come to be  
Please don't think of getting up for me  
You don't even need to speak  
When I've been here for just one day  
You'll already miss me if I go away_

_Oh don't leave home, oh don't leave home_

_If you're cold I'll keep you warm  
If you're low just hold on  
Cause I will be your safety  
Oh don't leave home_

_Oh how quiet, quiet the world can be  
When it's just you and little me  
Everything is clear and everything is new  
So you won't be leaving will you?_

_Oh don't leave home, oh don't leave home_

_ Dido (Don't Leave Home) _

The Seventh Heaven smelled of liquor, like always but Vincent hadn't smelled liquor so strong since the last time he had been here. It must have always smelt that way, he thought. Just as that thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He turned to see Tifa Lockhart coming down stairs…Tifa Strife was what she was called now. Her hair was longer than it was four years ago, but only by a few inches. She looked considerably grown up, her face that is but she truly aged with beauty. She had a white tank top on and black capris with tennis shoes on her feet…oh yes…and she was pregnant. That explained the "No Smoking" sign. Tifa with a baby, Vincent thought. It wasn't a strange pairing; Tifa was born to be a mother, everyone knew that – Vincent was just emotionally overwhelmed by the image of a woman with child, especially a woman he knew well.

"I'm sorry sir," she said to Vincent once she noticed his presence. "I'm closing up the bar now. You'll have to come tomorrow."

She didn't recognize him; he looked down at himself. Of course, he was wearing close to normal clothes on – not his signature red or his head band. His hair was short and he had on dark jeans and black boots and he wore a black tank top with a black leather jacket. The only thing that could quite prove it was him was is Cerberus chain around his neck, and Death Penalty on his belt. Tifa began to wash some of the glasses behind the counter. Vincent walked a little closer.

"Tifa," he said deeply. That got her attention. Tifa looked up from the glasses and stared confusingly at him – she recognized his voice. "It's me...Vincent"

Tifa inhaled quickly and gasped. "Vin…Vincent?" She looked his face over thoroughly. He nodded. Tifa held a large smile on her face and raced from behind the bar counter. She hugged him, and hugged him tight. He hugged her back; he wasn't quite expecting this kind of welcome. It was very nice. Then, Tifa began to sob; it was an uncontrollable sob – hiccups and all.

"Tifa," Vincent asked worriedly. "Are you all right?"

"I…" she tried to control her sobs. "I thought I would never see you again." She slowly broke the hug, but kept her arms on his shoulders as she looked into his face. "You, you look so different, Vincent." She smiled.

"How about you?" he said softly. "You're having a baby I see."

She laughed and caressed her pregnant stomach. "Yup," she said proudly. "It'll be our second."

"You're second?" Vincent was overwhelmed by this as well. Tifa was going to be a mother of three now – including Denzel.

"Yes," said Tifa. Her voice was soft and poignant. "Would like to see our son? He's just up in his sleeping pen, if we're quiet we won't wake him, come on!" She grabbed Vincent's hand and brought him up the small flight of stairs to all the rooms. They passed Denzel's room on tip-toe; apparently he was a light sleeper. "That made it hard for him with the new baby in the house – but he's a good kid." The next room was Tifa's and Cloud's and across from it was the baby's.

The room was dark, except for a small night light in the corner. Vincent recognized the room. It was the guest room that he occupied whenever he stayed here. Not anymore. The toddler crib that the child slept in was in the middle of the room. Vincent and Tifa walked over to the crib and peered in. The child was about 2 years old and with jet black hair like his mother. "His eyes are blue, like Cloud's," Tifa whispered. Vincent could tell she was so very proud of her son. Tifa placed her hand on the child's stomach and stroked it up and down. "Isn't he sweet?" she asked. The child _was_ wonderful…why?...because he was sleeping…simple as that. Vincent preferred sleeping babies…particularly after the bus ride he'd just experienced.

"He's a handsome kid," Vincent whispered. "What's his name?"

"Alan," she replied gently. The word rolled off her tongue quite well – like she was meant to say that word throughout her life.

"Nice name," said Vincent. He meant it too; Alan was a good, strong name.

"The next one's going to be a girl, Vincent." She took her hand off her child's stomach and went towards the door.

"Congratulations, Tifa. Do you have any names for the girl?" he asked as they left the room.

Tifa shut Alan's door softly. "Yes," she said with slyness in her voice. Vincent waited for a name, but Tifa didn't say. "I've decided to keep it a secret," she said. "Only Cloud and I know, that's what we did with Alan too."

"Why the secrecy?" Vincent asked as they made their way back to the bar room.

"I don't know," she said plainly. "It makes it more exciting I guess." She paused for a moment. "You're talking a lot more than you used to, Vince."

It was time to tell her. "Tifa, Chaos is gone."

"What?" Her expression was of confusion, but there was a slight tone of excitement in her voice.

"Chaos has been exorcised from my body…I'm free from him." There was a pause as she studied his face again.

"Is that where you've been all these years?" she asked.

"Yes," Vincent replied.

"Oh Vincent," she hugged him again. "I'm so glad…I'm so glad for your sake." She looked up at him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, until Tifa broke the embrace again. "You won't be leaving again, will you?"

Vincent sighed. "I don't know." He really didn't – he wasn't used to settling down in one place for long.

"I don't see why you can't stay for good now," she placed her hands behind her back, making her already large belly stick out even father. "You're one of my best friends Vincent, and Cloud thinks the same way; we'll be your safety if you need it."

Vincent smiled. "Thank you, Tifa."

"Listen," she said. "I have photos from the past three and a half years. Would you like to see them?"

Vincent smiled. "Yes, of course."


	6. Pictures and Loneliness

**Chapter 6 - Pictures and Loneliness**

Tifa and Vincent went back up stairs to Tifa's bedroom. Instead of two beds like there was three years ago, there was one queen sized bed in their places. Tifa motioned for Vincent to sit on the new bed and wait as she rummaged through her closet for the photographs. There were still pictures drawn by the children on the walls. There were many and Vincent took into interest a few. One was by Denzel, it was a drawing of a man on a motorcycle with a Chocobo running next to him; they seemed to be racing each other. This reminded him, "Where's Cloud?" asked Vincent.

"He had to make a distant delivery tonight," she said as she continued to go through the closet. "We need the extra money for our growing family you know."

There were many sloppy ones on the wall that could only have been done by little Alan – but Vincent saw one that was made up of the colors of blue and yellow and they were shaped like water waves (very badly drawn water waves, if that's even possible). He also saw how Alan had used these two colors to make another color: green. The last one Vincent particularly noticed was one that was done by Marlene. This picture had everyone from AVALANCHE in it – even Vincent himself. Vincent thought it was very well done and he noticed some writing at the bottom – "My Family" was what it read.

"Ah," exclaimed Tifa. "Found it!"

She came over to Vincent and sat next to him on the bed. She had two large photo albums next to her chest as she made herself comfortable. "These are from the past three years," she said. Tifa placed them on her lap and opened the first one – inside were pictures from the wedding.

"Here we are outside of the Seventh Heaven for the reception," she said softly. It was a nice picture. Denzel, Marlene and Yuffie were giving the peace sign as everyone else was standing very proper like in front of Tifa's bar. The next page had photos of Tifa and Cloud in different poses, smiling at the camera. The next few were just random pictures from the wedding – such as Marlene and Denzel eating their food sloppy, Barret giving Cloud a noogy, Cid smoking alone outside, and Yuffie giving Vincent unsuspecting bunny ears. He had to laugh when he saw it and his laugh surprised Tifa a little.

"I've never heard you laugh before Vince," she said.

"I know," he realized that the only emotions he ever gave back then were "gloomy" ones as Yuffie would put it. "I've changed a lot."

"I see," she said with a smile. There were a few more pictures from the wedding – then the next batch were sonograms of baby Alan. The next page had pictures of Tifa in the hospital, still pregnant. There was also a humorous picture of Cloud holding Tifa's hand as they made their way into the delivering room. His face was a bit distorted while Tifa's was quite calm looking – and she was the one having the baby!

"That was taken by Yuffie," Tifa explained with a giggle.

"I had a feeling," Vincent replied.

Then there were pictures of a new born baby Alan. First in the plastic crib that was made for him, second, in the arms of his beautiful mother, and third, with his proud looking father. The rest of the album contained pictures of Alan and how he'd grown the past two years.

"That's the end of the first one," Tifa said, as she placed the other one behind her back and opened up the second one on her lap. This one had pictures from Cid and Shera's wedding that he had missed. They were very similar to Tifa and Cloud's wedding, only Vincent was not included. Tifa went through those and landed on another page. This page struck Vincent in the stomach – it was filled of pictures taken of Yuffie, with a wedding dress on.

"She's married…" Vincent didn't say it like a question but a statement. Tifa gasped as if she had forgotten something in the oven.

"Vincent," she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry; I forgot to tell you when you arrived…!" Vincent didn't mind, she had only forgotten because of seeing him, but he was still shocked. He took the album from Tifa and turned the pages himself. The groups of photographs were of Yuffie's wedding that was for certain. Cloud and Tifa sitting on Wutai cushions with Alan (he didn't look that different then he did now) in Tifa's arms, Barret and Marlene standing behind a Wutai banner, and Yuffie at the alter with…

"This must be him," Vincent pointed to the man standing next to Yuffie on the opposite side of the Wutaian monk. He was a short man, only an inch taller than Yuffie, and he had his hair done up like a Wutaian warrior. He was tan…very tan and wore red Wutaian armor. Tifa nodded, "His name is Loki or Aka or something…I can't quite remember."

Vincent raised an eyebrow, "You don't remember his name?"

Tifa shook her head, "That was the first and the last time I saw her husband."

"What about Yuffie?"

"I saw her about a month ago – she's been swamped with work…she seems so tired, Vincent…I do hope she's okay."

"I assume ruling a civilization is tiring."

"I guess, but I think _he's_ the one tiring her…"

"What do you mean?" asked Vincent. Tifa looked around the room as if worried someone was listening and motioned Vincent to follow her down stairs.

When they were back down, Tifa went behind the bar as Vincent sat at the counter. He was feeling that old familiar grim emotion again…something inside of him regretted hearing that Yuffie was married.

"Drink this," Tifa handed him a glass of Cherri.

"I don't drink," Vincent told her. "You know that, Tifa."

"Yes, I know," she said. "But you look like you're going to die all over again, Vince."

Vincent took the Cherri and sniffed it, then drank it down. He had not touched a drop of alcohol since his days as a Turk 30 some years ago. It was a mixture of refreshing…and disgusting all at once. "Alright," he said softly, trying to hold back a cough from the liquor. "What's going on with Yuffie and her new husband?"

--

_Where were you when I was lonesome?  
Locked away with freezing cold  
Someone flying only stolen  
I can't tell this light so old_

_What was that my sweet, sweet nothing?  
I can't hear you through the fog  
If I holler let me go  
If I falter let me know_

_I don't want to swim the ocean  
I don't want to fight the tide  
I don't want to swim forever  
When it's cold I'd like to die_

_ Moby (When It's Cold I'd Like to Die) _

"They've been married for only a few months, hell, three months maybe," explained Tifa as she cleaned the glasses.

"Not that long…" Vincent was quiet when he spoke.

"Yeah," Tifa stared at Vincent. He was sad, very sad…she wondered if he had felt something for Yuffie. That was impossible, Vincent may have been different now but back then he wasn't interested in anyone.

"Vincent," Tifa whispered but he continued to stare at his glass. He was thinking about getting drunk but that was foolish. The last thing he needed was to be out cold on Tifa's floor and have Cloud come in and trip over him, especially since he hadn't seen him in three in a half years. His mind was foggy, he really couldn't think straight at all. What did he think would happen? Yuffie would be available forever and he could marry her whenever he thought he was ready? Wait, since when did he want to marry Yuffie? He didn't begin to admire her until she showed him that she could actually think straight…which he wasn't doing now himself…was that Tifa saying his name?

"Vincent!" Tifa said loudly. She quickly tried to keep her voice down after that, afraid to wake her children. "Are you okay?"

"What was that?" Vincent asked dumbly.

"Nothing," Tifa sighed. "Vincent," she began again. "Do you…" how could she put it. "Do you like Yuffie?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Don't be stupid, you know what I mean."

"Not really," he replied. "I guess I like her, she's nice and all."

"You know," Tifa sighed again. "She's changed, just like you."

"She has?" Vincent's eyes met Tifa's and Tifa noticed that his eyes were brighter than normal.

"Yes," she answered. "She's grown up a lot. I asked her about it and she told me that she didn't want to swim forever, fight the tide or something. She said that she was feeling cold and didn't want that anymore. Very poetic for Yuffie, don't you think?"

"Very," Vincent agreed. He looked back down at his empty glass…he was greatly confused about his new feelings – he actually wished that Chaos was back possessing him again.

"I was extremely proud of her, like an older sister would be you know? That's what I've felt like to her, an older sister…" Tifa finished cleaning the glasses and placed them back in the cupboard, stretched her back from the pressure of being pregnant then turned back to the bar counter and leaned on it.

"Do you _love_ her now?" she asked him.

Vincent looked up at Tifa who then placed her hand behind his head and brought it close to hers. She kissed him…gently at first, then hard and he kissed her back. They were making out heavily, until Vincent broke the kiss to come around the bar counter to get closer to her. He kissed her back once he was in front of her; Tifa grabbed the back of his head and ran her fingers through his short, black hair. Vincent had his hands on her arms and moved them down slowly to her back, and then to her pregnant belly where he suddenly felt the baby kick. He stopped kissing Tifa when this happened…Oh my God…his best friend's wife…his best friend's son's…his best friend's unborn child…he was ruining it all. He breathed deeply after breaking the kiss, his mind swimming. Tifa, who seemed unaffected, sighed and took his hand, she walked him over to one of the tables and they both sat in the chairs. Vincent felt that he should have apologized right away, but Tifa read his mind.

"Don't even think of apologizing," she said. "_I'm _the one who should say I'm sorry. I never should have done that but…"

Vincent stared at her, unable to say anything, waiting for her explanation.

"_I_ was cold, Vincent," she said slowly. "Whenever Cloud was gone, I was cold and…I wanted to die. Like Yuffie, I didn't want to swim forever; I didn't want to wait for him to need me, to want me, to…love me."

Vincent held her hand tighter and she smiled. "I began to look at others…I began to look at you. You were there for me Vincent, before Denzel came into my life, you kept me company, and you cared about me. I actually began to resent Cloud…where was he when I was lonesome, I would ask myself? Out being as emotional as you used to be," she laughed at this. "But even though you were fighting your inner demons, you still waited until I found someone to love and take care of, even if it was just little Denzel. Then, Cloud defeated Kadja and he defeated Sephiroth again…that was his awakening, Vincent. He suddenly became the Cloud that I used to love when I was younger, and then I realized that I always loved him more than anyone else ever. That was why I always waited…no matter what, I always waited for him. I think he feels sorry, guilty even that he had done that to me…but I forgave him." Vincent continued to stare at Tifa as she spoke. "But," she said softly. "You were the only one there before he changed…and if Cloud never got his act together…things might have been different…these kids might have been yours." She did not sound sorry, just a-matter-of-fact like.

"Tifa," Vincent said abruptly. "Don't say that." But he couldn't kid himself. He knew that she was right; it might have been true. He always thought Tifa was a wonderful, beautiful person and if she had wanted – he would have married her.

"Don't worry, I _can't_ imagine being with anyone else, Vince," she said. "I love him too much, oh I love him so much…" she looked off into space and began to cry. "Oh Vincent," she said with a sob. "I would have never been happy without him. Oh God, I would have just died no matter who I was with…if it wasn't him…he's my soul-mate, Vincent. I love him dearly."

He smiled sympathetically at her as she cried. He knew that Tifa loved Cloud and he knew that Cloud loved her equally back. Vincent never really felt anything deep for Tifa. Yes, lust overtook him a bit this night and her as well – but it was only because of a tiny flame of loneliness that existed in them both a few years ago and only for a few seconds. They were not soul-mates, that was for certain, or else it probably _would_ have been Vincent's baby but they both knew about loneliness all too well, and that was the real reason why they were connected. They were two very good friends who had made a mistake; they were two very good friends who were truly in love with other people; they were two very good friends who were no longer cold.

"Yes," Vincent said delicately. "At least…I think…I believe that I am connected to Yuffie somehow. It took me a long time to realize it but…I believe I do love her."

Tifa turned towards him; a large smile appeared over her teary face. "You do?" she questioned. Vincent nodded, he could not deny it, he had thought of Yuffie everyday since that day they had defeated Kadja and Sephiroth. He sensed her seriousness and womanhood right then and there and he was attracted to it greatly. Now it was Tifa's turn to grasp his hand tighter.

"Go to her," she said softly. "You should at least _see_ her…"

He nodded at this, and when he did, the front door of the Seventh Heaven opened.

"Hey Teef?" it was Cloud Strife. "A little late locking up huh?" It was then Cloud noticed a teary Tifa and a strange man sitting at one of the tables.

"Hey," Cloud said in a threatening tone. "Who are you?"

Vincent rose from the table and turned to Cloud. Cloud had not changed much, he wasn't even chubby like some fathers get after they've settled down. "Hello Cloud," Vincent said, sticking out his hand for Cloud to shake. "It's been a long time."

Cloud stared at him in amazement. "Vincent?"


	7. You're Here Now

**Chapter 7 - You're Here Now**

"So," Cloud said, taking a gulp of his drink. "Chaos is finally gone."

"Yes," Vincent replied. He and Cloud were sitting at the bar counter with Tifa on the other side. "Two of the other demons have been greatly affected by the exorcism and are unstable. Galian Beast is the only demon I can safely use now."

"Well," Cloud said. "That's okay right? I mean, Galian Beast wasn't the one causing all the problems for you."

"That is true," Vincent replied.

"Hey," Cloud said. "Stay the night Vince. I mean, the guest room is Alan's room now, but you can use our room and Tifa and I will camp out in the living room." Tifa nodded her head in agreement.

"Thank you but no," Vincent said shaking his head. "You both can sleep in your own bed, I, however, haven't camped out since I was a kid."

Tifa made a bed for Vincent on the couch in front of the television. They all said their good-nights and Tifa and Cloud went up to bed. Vincent looked at the digital clock on one of the counters in the living room. 11:07pm; that wasn't so late, he thought. He changed into his pajamas that the Chaos Community gave to him (black and red plaid pants and a grey shirt) and went to sleep.

Vincent woke up seven hours later. He read the clock on the counter again. 6:32am; he was used to getting up earlier, oh well. He got up and scratched his head and every once in a while he would try to pull his hair in a ponytail, realized that he had short hair now and stopped. "I'm still not used to it…"

Vincent made his way to the kitchen where a fourteen year old Denzel Strife was sitting and eating his cereal. He looked at Vincent for a few seconds, seemed to think for a minute, then stood up and ran towards him. "Mr. Valentine!" he said with excitement. The boy's voice was much deeper now.

"Hello Denzel," Vincent said. The boy came up to him and Vincent stretched out his hand for the young man to shake. Denzel shook it quickly, and then put his arms around Vincent, giving him a hug. Vincent was a bit surprised by this as he hugged him back. "How have you been?" Vincent asked.

"I've been great!" he said with a large smile on his face. Cloud was lucky to have this kid as a son; Denzel probably gave Cloud constant "happy" lessons. "Mom told me that you went away because you felt it was right."

"Well," said Vincent. "I wanted to comeback a new person I guess."

"You've definitely done that," Denzel said, going back to his cereal at the table. "You're hair's shorter."

Vincent put his hand through his hair. "Yeah," he said. "You're right."

There was a honking noise outside and Denzel groaned. "Aw man," he said. "I'm not done eating yet!" He grabbed his backpack on the chair next to him and ran towards the door. "I miss the days when dad could bring me to school 'cause he had time, oh well." Denzel opened the door and left the Seventh Heaven calling back, "See you later, Mr. Valentine!"

Vincent sat at the kitchen table where Denzel used to be sitting. He wondered where everyone was. He knew that Denzel had left for school and Cloud was out delivering something but where was Tifa and Alan? Still sleeping? Vincent decided that he'd go on the roof of the Seventh Heaven and get a bit of fresh air.

"Isn't Vincent back?" asked Marlene. She had just gotten back from school and was smart enough to do most of her homework on the bus – Denzel, however, was not, and up in his room at his desk.

"Yes, Marlene," replied Tifa. "He is." She was tending to the only customer at the bar, and that was Marlene. Business was getting a little slow, she failed to mention that to Vincent when he first arrived last night.

"Where is he? I missed him a lot." She's so much older then the last time Vincent saw her, thought Tifa, he'll be surprised.

"He's up on the roof," Tifa said. "He's been up there since seven this morning. I only saw him a couple of times when he came down to use the bathroom."

"What's he been doing up there?" the 14 year old asked.

"Just…sitting," she replied slowly, "and thinking I guess."

"About what do you think?" Marlene left the bar and walked towards the kitchen. She opened up the fridge and pulled out some milk. "Did he say anything important when he came down the few times?"

Tifa shook her head, "He said good morning and asked me if I slept nice, and he smiled - and then the second time he asked me how Alan was and I said, 'very good, thanks.' Then he smiled again and that was it!"

"I always remember him being that way – you said he changed, Tifa?" Marlene poured herself a glass of milk and took a sip.

"He has," she looked out the front windows before her. "I think he just needs some cheering up right now."

"Are you saying we should throw him a party?" the young teen asked. She didn't like the idea…it seemed corny to her.

"Well," Tifa laughed. "I don't think he's changed that much! But we can let your dad, Cid and Naniki know that he's back."

"So," Naniki said lowly. "Do we jump out and say 'surprise?'" He wasn't trying to be mean; he was just confused why Tifa had him hiding behind the couch.

"No, no, no!" Tifa said in a fuss. "I asked you to stand in front of the couch, not behind it! This is not a surprise party everyone – just a welcome home/get-together for Vincent."

Barret, Cid, Cloud, and Shera were all standing near the TV while Marlene, Denzel and baby Alan, on the floor with a blanket and toys, stood near the door.

"Tifa," Cloud questioned. "When do you think he'll come down?"

"Were you looking for me?" Vincent came in through the door near Marlene, Denzel, and Alan and looked around the room, seeing all of his old friends.

"Vince!" yelled Cid. "About time you came off that roof – you're like some God-damn pussy cat."

"Uh, thanks Cid."

"Uncle Vincent!" Marlene got up from the floor and ran up to hug him.

"Hey Marlene, wow you're a beautiful young woman now."

The rest of the afternoon resided in the same fashion – hugs and stories from the past three and a half years and cups of tea. It was absolutely amazing and Vincent could have not ask for anything more…that is, anything out of his friends that were there. There was something missing, well, _someone_ missing.

--

The get together lasted until later that night. Tifa put Alan to bed and Barrett and Marlene left around 8:00pm so that Marlene would be home in time because of school the next day. Denzel went up to bed around 9:00pm (only because Cloud made him) and Cid and Shera left shortly after – Naniki was the only one left.

Tifa and Naniki were lying on the couch resting while Vincent and Cloud were cleaning the dishes in the bar.

"Tifa seems to be doing very well," Vincent commented. Cloud smiled as he picked up another plate.

"Yeah, she's a survivor alright…this pregnancy isn't as tough as the one she had with Alan though." He gave Vincent the plate for him to dry.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we had to close the bar for about 6 months towards the end of it. She had a lot of pain in her back, constant morning sickness plus Alan was a big baby to carry around." Cloud stopped and wiped his forehead. "It was hard but she's an amazing girl and I'm very proud of her."

"You should be," Vincent turned to put the dry dish in the cupboard and smiled. He was happy to hear that about Tifa from Cloud. "You must be thrilled to have a little girl on the way." There was some sarcasm in Vincent's voice, for joke's sake but Cloud didn't seem to catch it.

"I honestly can't wait, Vince. She's going to be so beautiful…" Cloud's voice trailed off and cracked a little at the end. Was he crying? Vincent leaned over the sink to see Cloud's face and sure enough, he was.

"Cloud," Vincent began but Cloud shook his head.

"I don't know why I'm…"

"It's alright, Cloud."

"I…I'm so happy here, Vincent."

"I know."

"God, I was such a jerk to her."

"Yeah, you were but…"

"Look…I…I understand if you don't think this is appropriate…"

Oh great, thought Vincent. "What is it, Cloud?"

"Did…were you guys…ever together?"

Vincent almost dropped a wine glass at those words. "What?"

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked that."

Vincent touched his friend's shoulder, "No, no, you have every right…I mean…Cloud, I never…slept with her…if that's what you're talking about."

"Well," Cloud seemed embarrassed. "She told me about how you were always over visiting and helping her take care of the bar and…well…just keeping her company."

Vincent didn't know what to think. Should he tell him about the kiss? No that would be stupid…REALLY STUPID. He would be unconscious on the floor in less than half a second. What would Yuffie do? Make a joke? Try to cheer Cloud up in some way shape or form…but Vincent wasn't good at that.

"Look," Vincent sat Cloud down at one of the tables. "I care for Tifa and I wanted her to be happy even if I wasn't, so, I came to help her out. I waited by her side until Denzel came into her life – that's when I knew she would be okay. She had someone who she could care for. Cloud, ultimately YOU were the one she wanted to take care of and the one she wanted the most company from. No one else…"

"I guess," Cloud started. "I was jealous that she got all that time with you when, really, I could have been the one there for her. I was so confused with my feelings…I loved her…but I loved Aerith too…It's just…It took me a long time to realize that I always loved Tifa and I would have been nothing without her in my life…I would have continued to be nothing without her in my life now. I just wish I was there for her then, I guess."

Vincent patted his friend's shoulder, "Its okay, Cloud, you're here now and that's what's important."

At that moment Tifa came walking into the room with Naniki. "Red is going to stay the night here, aren't you?" She smiled at Naniki as she said this.

"I…well…I didn't ask you, Tifa."

"I know," she said looking up at Cloud. "But you have a long way to go so you might as well sleep here tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Cloud said, standing up from the table. "We'd be more than happy to have you here."

"You are too kind," Naniki started walking out the door. "If you don't mind I would like to sleep under the stars tonight."

"Not a problem," Cloud took Tifa by the hand. "You ready for bed, Teef?"

"Yes," she said smiling at him. "My feet hurt…"

"I can carry you!" Cloud said hastily.

"That's okay, honey," she said softly. "But you can rub them when we get up there."

"Okay, sounds good! Are you all set for the night, Vincent?"

"Yes, thank you."

"See you in the morning, Vincent," Tifa waved.

"Good-night," Vincent waved back.

Tifa and Cloud reached their room – nowadays it took longer than usual because Tifa was so big. When they got there, Tifa took off her sweaty shirt from the day and stared at her half naked self in the mirror that was hanging on the wall. "I remember this all too well," and she began to giggle.

"You're due in 2 months," said Cloud, sitting on the bed. "Are you ready?"

"More than ready," Tifa turned to Cloud and smiled. "I can't wait to see her."

Cloud looked at his beautiful wife with such joy. He almost could not believe that he and Tifa were finally together and with a family.

"I love you," he said softly.

Tifa laughed. "Even when I'm as big as a full grown Chocobo!" she exclaimed jokingly.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Oh good!" Tifa walked over to the bed and sat next to her blonde haired husband. "I love you too," she kissed him softly on lips.

"I'm also…very sorry."

"For what?" Tifa looked surprised.

"For everything I've done to you in the past," he sighed. "I don't deserve you, Tifa…you…you could've done better than me."

"No," she whispered in his ear. "I couldn't have, Cloud." She pulled on his shoulder and brought him next to her so that they were now both lying on the bed. "You are my lover, my friend and my partner in crime." She giggled after she said that. "I couldn't have asked for anyone more wonderful."

Cloud smiled and kissed her on the nose. "Okay…" he said wearily. "But I _know _that I could not have done better than you, Tifa."

--

_I'm starting to feel_

_We stay together out of fear of dying alone_

_I've been slipping through the years_

_My old clothes don't fit like they once did_

_So they hang like ghosts of the people I've been_

_And it's like my heart can't contain_

_I fall in love every day_

_And I feel like a fool_

_But I have to face the truth that_

_no one could ever look at me like you do_

_Like I'm something worth holding on to_

_There's times I think of leaving_

_But it's something I'll never do_

_Cause you can do better than me,_

_But I can't do better than you._

_You can do better than me,_

_But I can't do better than you._

**_Death Cab For Cutie (You Can Do Better Than Me)_**


	8. Warnings and the Lady Great

**Chapter 8 - Warnings and the Lady Great  
**

Vincent was lying on the couch starring up at the ceiling. He could not have felt more alone at that precise moment. His heart was tight, as if it was being stretched but could not stretch any farther. His chest was heavy and crushing his lungs so that he had a hard time breathing. His ears were ringing and his stomach was aching like he had just gotten off a very long, annoying roller-coaster. His brain was full of what seemed to him like goop and when he turned his head either to the left or the right the goop felt like slow moving molasses. He was angry – he was happy – he felt sick – he felt normal – he was hot – he was cold – he had back pains – he was healthy. It was almost too much to handle but he understood this feeling…he was in love. It was true; the only person on his mind was Yuffie. He couldn't get her out of his brain. He thought of the time when he first met her during the days before the Meteor. He thought of her during the random parties that Tifa would throw for AVALANCHE. He thought of her fighting the large Bahamut during their escapade with Kadja. He thought of her the night she showed her true self to him. He thought of her the day of the Strife wedding. He thought of her now…had she changed since her wedding day? He liked thinking about her – he didn't like thinking about her. Yes sir, this was going to be an impossible night.

Vincent began packing his bag just a few moments later. He knew that there was only one way to get over his feelings – he needed to see her. Maybe he would feel differently after that…Oh God…what if he didn't!? What if he just thought of her more! He knew he could never have her…not now…not ever. That was almost unbearable to think about. What possessed him to even dream that SEEING Yuffie would make his feelings go away? Tifa said that Yuffie was different – No, Tifa, not different – Yuffie was finally acting like her true self…the very thing that attracted Vincent in the first place. Wait…was that Naniki?

"Valentine, what are you doing?" Naniki came from the kitchen into the living room where Vincent was packing.

"Oh," Vincent was startled. "Naniki, I didn't see you there."

"Going somewhere?" Naniki raised an eyebrow. \

"I…what are you doing inside?" Vincent felt that changing the subject would help his situation a little – it didn't.

"I was thirsty…where are you going?"

"I…well…"

Naniki chuckled, "I have never heard you stumble over your words before, Valentine. Tifa was right, you've changed."

"In a good way I hope."

"Of course…now…will you answer my question or not?"

"I want to go to Wutai, Naniki."

"To visit Lady Kisaragi?"

Vincent continued packing. "Is _that_ what she's called now?"

"Well," Naniki rubbed his head against the couch. "That is her new title so that is what I prefer to call her, even if she disagrees with me."

"I see," Vincent finished getting his two backpacks together and stood up.

"Are you leaving _now_?" Naniki inquired.

"I cannot sleep," Vincent began walking towards the door. "I will be back soon."

Naniki eyed Vincent as he walked past him. "She's married, Vincent." Naniki said in a sly tone.

"I know," he became irritated. "I just want to say hello and congratulate her."

"Alright," Naniki sighed. "I wish you a safe journey…just be careful…Yuffie has changed...but only a little...she is still not one to cross...but that's something that you cannot undo I suppose."

"Are you suggesting that I've already crossed her?"

Naniki sighed again. "You left without a word almost four years ago."

Vincent's eyes widened. "Ah yes, I forgot about that."

"I will tell Cloud and Tifa what your intentions are; when should they expect you back?" Naniki and Vincent walked to the front door of the Seventh Heaven and Vincent opened the door ready to leave.

"I don't know; I'll call them."

"You'll CALL them?" Naniki didn't believe Vincent words.

"Yes," Vincent walked out the door. "I promise. Goodbye, Naniki."

--

It was midnight by the time Vincent got on Air Ship – Tuttle 23. It was the only one open late and heading to Wutai country. Luckily, he and an older man were the only people on the air-ship. The trip was not long and the food that they sold was decent (although it was a little stale from being out all day). He didn't care; he was off…though he still didn't know why he felt that he was wasting his night on seeing Yuffie Kisaragi. It wasn't long before Vincent began having doubts about Yuffie's "new" personality.

What if she didn't really change like Tifa had said? What if she was still a little brat? Vincent couldn't bear to think of the old Yuffie. Always hanging on him, calling his cell phone every second, dancing around like a little child. It was nothing attractive at all to him. No, he shouldn't think that way…he was going to see the new Yuffie…the true Yuffie. Tifa was like a sister to her and would know whether or not she was different.

"This will be great," he thought. "This will be perfect."

Tuttle – 23 landed in Wutai country. The ship's impact from the landing woke Vincent from the short nap that he was taking. He rubbed his right eye and swished his short hair around. He peered across the air ship to see the older man who was riding the ship too. Vincent hadn't noticed what a strange man he was. The old man's face appeared doughy and crooked; like he had been smacked hard in the face and his features went out of alignment. His hair looked like a tuff of grey straw sitting on top of the doughy mess. His clothes were of Wutaian tradition and his hands looked like they were burned badly.

Vincent noticed that the old man was starring at him. Vincent stood and walked towards the docking door - the old man did the same and followed him. Vincent tried not to stare at the man as he came up to stand next to him.

"WELCOME TO WUTAI," the voice of the ship's computer said.

As the doors of the ship opened up for the men to walk out, the older man grabbed Vincent's shoulder making him stop.

"I am old," he sated.

No kidding, thought Vincent. "Do you need help walking down the ramp?" he asked the elder. The older man nodded and held on to Vincent's forearm.

When they made it down the ramp the old man thanked Vincent and walked in the opposite direction. Vincent welcomed him and walked away as well but he wasn't three steps away before the man spoke to him.

"Are you who I think you are?"

Vincent turned, "Excuse me?"

"Are you who I think you are?" the man said again.

"That depends on who you think I am…" Vincent was confused.

"I think you're Vincent Valentine."

"Well, then you are correct," Vincent tried to turn away but the man spoke again.

"You're different – what happened to your crazy outfit?" The old man gave Vincent a strange toothless smile.

"Uh…I got rid of it."

"Why?" the old man was upset now. "You're still apart of AVALANCHE aren't you?"

"Well, yes but…"

"Why has all of AVALANCHE finally settled down?"

"What do you mean?" Vincent really wanted to leave now. "There is no more danger, sir…we have the ability to settle now. The Planet is finally at peace."

"I wish that was so…" the old man looked down at his feet.

Vincent was becoming impatient. "Is there something I should know?"

"No, no, no…you think that the Planet is safe…you're wrong but I can't change your mind."

"I see," he was done with this crazy old man. The sun would be rising in a few hours and he wanted to get to Yuffie's village as soon as he could. "Well, goodnight."

"I'm guessing that you've come here to see Lady Kisaragi," the old man guessed.

"Yes," Vincent sighed heavily. Please leave me alone!

"Ah," the old man nodded and turned to walk away. "Please take very good care of her and please be careful yourself."

"I…uh…of course," Vincent was confused by the old man's sayings but was glad to finally get rid of him all the same.

Vincent walked for about an hour before he reached the gates of the village of Wutai. The place was cleaned up – at least on the outside – and an enormous amount of joy flowed over his body. He had not been this excited to see someone in a very long time. It was so outlandish to have this feeling again and over Yuffie…but he knew that he had to see her – even if he couldn't have…

"Are you lonely tonight, mister?"

It was a young prostitute. She came through the gates and posed in front of him. "Um," Vincent tried not to look over her firm, curvy body. "No, thank you, I haven't been here in awhile though, where is Lady Kisaragi located?"

Disappointment covered the young woman's overly applied made-up face. "Ah yes," she pointed towards the back of the village. "Our Lady's home is straight ahead and to the left – you can't miss it." She looked Vincent over from top to bottom and breathed in. "Good luck, sweetie."

--

Wutai was looking good – yes, it was still a tourist attraction but it was a lot cleaner which made Vincent happy. Though it was night most of the village was wide awake on the main street. Sushi and Wong Ton restaurants, a whore house, a hotel and a few beauty shops and bars were lit up and ready to serve. The colors were absolutely beautiful – mostly magenta, bright green and light blue, the colors flashing all over the place would have given Vincent a seizure if he wasn't so in control of his body.

As he made a left like the prostitute had said Vincent came upon a large alley way that stretched far along to a large royal pagoda. The pagoda was decorated with red and gold paint which made it seem like it was glowing at the end of the dark alley way…guiding him to Yuffie. Now that he knew where her palace was, he could find a room at the hotel and finally sleep.

--

It would only be 2 hours before the sun rose. Vincent knew that this would happen and shut the curtains tightly in his room. He set his cell phone to noon and slept as long as he could.

When Vincent awoke the next morning, he discovered that he had an hour before his phone would announce the time. Knowing that his nerves were shaking at the thought of seeing Yuffie, he decided to just get up at 11 am.

The shower wasn't working well – the water was very cold and it felt like a thousand and one knives digging into Vincent's skin. Oh well, he had to get clean before seeing his friend. After changing into a long sleeved dark blue shirt and brown cargo pants, Vincent packed up the rest of his belongings and strolled over to the royal palace. He was nervous about how Yuffie would react to him when she saw him – would she greet him with respect and a bow or topple him and scream like a little girl? He couldn't believe he was still having doubts about her new and improved personality. Well, no matter what, the true Yuffie was still in there somewhere and he felt that he could safely say that he loved that about her.

Vincent walked through the streets of Wutai. The morning light made the place look dingy and uninviting. There weren't many people on the street even though it was mid-day. The gun-man tried not to mind Yuffie's kingdom as he made his way to her home. Vincent walked up the stretching stairs and made his way to the front doors of the red and golden pagoda. The guards, wearing traditional Wutaian armor placed their spears in front of Vincent.

"State your name and business," one of them ordered.

"My name is Vincent Valentine," Vincent stated gracefully. "I am here to see my friend, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Valentine?" the other guard questioned. "You don't look like him."

"I have changed a lot." Vincent was starting to get tired of people not recognizing him.

"He does look like him though; see the eyes?" the first guard said. "They're as red as wine; this is Valentine alright."

"Well," the second guard was still wary. "To be safe we'll follow him inside and take him to the Lady Great ourselves."

"Follow us, Valentine." The first guard motioned for Vincent to trail after him and his fellow guard.

The walk to the throne room wasn't very long but on the way there Vincent noticed many customary paintings of the Lords and Ladies who had ruled Wutai in the past. Vincent noticed one in particular – the one of Yuffie's mother and father. Vincent knew that Yuffie's mother went through the same thing that she was going through right now. Marrying someone that she did not pick out herself and ruling all of Wutai almost alone. It was sad that Yuffie's mother had died so suddenly – she appeared to once be a very strong and beautiful woman. Godo, Yuffie's father, however, was not a strong handsome man. He was overweight, rotten, and had no love and respect for his daughter at all (and from what Yuffie had hinted, he had none of these feelings towards his wife either). Godo must have been dead now though, otherwise Yuffie would not be married and ruling Wutai today.

Vincent did not notice that the guards had taken him to the throne room. He looked up and saw her – Yuffie Kisaragi.

She was lovely…there were no words to describe it. Yuffie's silky black hair had grown past her ears, past her shoulders and to her chest. Her make-up was done like a Wutaian female ruler – her face was painted all white with red lipstick on her lips and thick black eyeliner around her almond shaped eyes. Her headdress was large, shaped like antlers, and colored golden with jade green tassels hanging from either side of her head. Her dress was gold and red, like the outside of her palace, with a large jade colored fish embroidered on the bottom front.

When Vincent saw that Yuffie noticed who he was, he felt relieved. She was the first one to become aware of his identity right away. Her face was stern when the guards walked him in but her mouth curved to one side as she smiled at him. "She's happy to see me," Vincent thought.

The guards walked up to the front of Yuffie's throne and bowed their heads. "Lady Kisaragi," the guards said in unison. "Vincent Valentine."

Yuffie nodded her head. "Thank you," she spoke. Her voice sounded lower than normal – it was nice. Vincent walked up to her throne and bowed low before her.

"You're High-" but suddenly Vincent was interrupted. He felt someone grab the back of his neck and lift him straight off the ground – he was then flown to one side and tossed at full force across the room. He could feel his back scrape before he even started to slide belly-up across the wooden floors. When he hit the wall farthest from the throne Vincent laid there for a few moments – not because he couldn't handle being thrown across a room but that he was surprised that the one who threw him was Yuffie.

"You Fucking Bastard!" he heard her scream in a high-pitched voice. "Guards, take him away!"

The guards didn't know how to react at first; weren't they friends? Nevertheless, the two faithful guards ran over to Vincent's side, grabbed an arm and dragged the stunned Vincent Valentine out of the throne room and out of the palace.

"My God," one of the guards said. "What the hell did you do to her?" They both dropped him in front of the door and went inside to check on Yuffie's condition. Vincent just laid there, completely motionless. He was suddenly brought back all of those years ago when Yuffie was just a young teenager and always hanging on him or Cloud – making stupid jokes – crying for no reason and talking crudely. What happened to the "changed" Yuffie that Tifa had briefly discussed and Vincent had seen and dreamed about. Wait a minute…he thought…the key word in that sentence was "dream."


	9. Forgiveness

**Chapter 9 - Forgiveness**

Vincent eventually stood up and went back to the hotel that he had recently stayed at. He had signed out (thinking that Yuffie would give him a room) so he had to find another one. Since it was now the weekend the receptionist had to give Vincent an even cheaper room than before. He didn't mind…he was running out of Gil anyway.

When he got up to his room and took off his shirt he looked at his scarred back in the dirty bathroom mirror. It wasn't so bad, nothing that a simple potion couldn't fix. He had only two left and figured that this was an opportune moment to use one. He drank the potion and laid on one of the double beds with his healing back facing the ceiling. While lying there Vincent began to think.

"What happened?" was his first thought. He didn't understand – no, he understood…he was wrong, plain and simple. It wouldn't be the first time he was wrong about a woman. Yuffie didn't change – she fooled Tifa into thinking she was grown-up now; she had fooled Vincent into thinking she was a real lady at heart. Yuffie wasn't a "lady," that was a joke if Vincent had ever heard one. What was he thinking? He knew he should have listened to his intuition…it's always right after all, isn't it? He couldn't explain the feeling that was taking over his body, mind and soul. He was angry and sad all at once. Even if Yuffie had been different, did he really think that seeing her would satisfy his recent lust? Yes, he was now calling it "lust" instead of "love" because that's all it was! He dreamt of a simple "girl" for three and a half years…and wasted his time for many different reasons.

"I'm a loser…" Vincent said aloud to himself. "I'm a lonely…son-of-a-bitch… loser." But he knew that already.

--

Tifa Strife was fixing up her bedroom when her cell-phone rang. "Huh," she thought. "I wonder who that could be." She bent up from making her bed and groaned. "Little, girl" she said patting her belly. "You're getting too big for mommy to carry."

She walked over to the counter that her phone was on and answered it. "Hello?"

--

Vincent had fallen asleep when his cell-phone rang. He woke with a start and looked at the desk in between the two double beds. His phone was buzzing like an angry bee as the call was coming through. He almost didn't answer it – but felt that maybe he should at least check who was on the other line. He stayed on his stomach and reached for the phone to look who was trying to get a hold of him. It was Tifa…

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi Vincent," Tifa's voice was not happy. "I need to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" there was no emotion in Vincent's voice. Tifa sounded like his mother whenever he did something wrong and he didn't want to hear it now.

"Yuffie just called me not 10 minutes ago," she sounded stern, "she was crying hard…"

"So…what's the problem?"

"Well, didn't you just go see her?"

"Yes," he sighed.

"What did you say to her, Vincent?" she was really mad now…

"Absolutely nothing," and he didn't care.

"Don't give me that crap, Vincent. What you do to piss her off?"

"I've learned that it doesn't take much to piss Yuffie off."

"This is true…" she was quiet for a moment. "You really didn't do anything?"

"I got one word out and she threw me across the room, Tifa." Vincent took his other hand and felt his back – it was healed. He turned over so he could finally lay on it. "She's as nuts as she's always been."

"Vincent, don't say that," Tifa was sounding more understanding now. "She's just upset with you for leaving like you did."

"She could have handled it nicely like you and Cloud."

"Oh give her a break," Tifa was mad again. "She's Yuffie! What did you think, Vincent! Did you think that she was going to completely change?! People just don't do that."

"Yeah, but you said…"

"Who cares what I said! Yes, Yuffie has changed but she had to for her own good! She wanted to change because she was alone, because she was scared; because she had no one to love and be with…she was trying to grow up, Vincent."

"I see," Vincent rubbed his eyes. "I guess I'm just disappointed…"

"Why are you disappointed? Because she's no longer the dream girl you've been waiting for? Well, get over it." Tifa hung up the phone.

--

_Sugar, baby love, sugar, baby love_

_I didn't mean to make you blue_

_Sugar, baby love, sugar, baby love_

_I didn't mean to hurt you_

_All lovers make_

_Make the same mistake_

_Yes, they do, yes all lovers make_

_Make the same mistake_

_as me and you_

_Sugar, baby love, sugar, baby love_

_I didn't mean to make you blue_

_Sugar, baby love, sugar, baby love_

_I didn't mean to hurt you_

_People, take my advice_

_If you love someone don't think twice_

_Love your baby love, Sugar baby love_

_Love her anyway, love her everyday_

_Yoko Ishida (Sugar Baby Love)_

Vincent took a shower, got dressed, packed up all of his clothes in his back-pack and left the hotel again. It was still light out and he figured that he could come back and stay one more night if things with Yuffie didn't go so well again.

He was once again in front of her palace. He made his way up the stairs and flinched when he came to the guards but to his excitement, they were not the same ones as before. One was a female (though she didn't look like one) and the other was a taller male than the others before. They both pointed their spears at Vincent.

"State your name and business," the female guard ordered.

"My name is Vincent Valentine and I am here to see my friend, Yuffie Kisaragi."

The guards looked at each other. "She told us to watch out for you," the tall guard said.

Here it comes, thought Vincent; they were going to kick him to the street.

"Follow us, sir," said the female guard with a smile.

--

This time they did not take Vincent to the throne room but to the back porch on the on the other side of the palace. There he saw Yuffie sitting on a green cushion drinking tea. She was not dressed the same as she was earlier that afternoon – her make-up was completely off and she was now wearing a simple, but large black and brown robe wrapped tightly around her and her hair was pinned up in a loose bun. She looked up from her tea and smiled wide.

"It's wonderful to see you, Vinnie," her voice was alto again. Vincent was trying not to buy into it. He would wait until the guards left before he said anything. When Yuffie finally shooed them away he sat at her small tea table on a little red cushion and stared at her.

"You don't fool me you know," she said taking a sip of tea. "I recognized you the moment you stepped in."

"Why did you throw me across the room, Yuffie?" no more stupid talk – he wanted some answers.

"I…" she frowned; she seemed embarrassed. "I've been angry with you for almost four years – that's a long time, you know."

Vincent laughed. "Have you been keeping it inside all this time?"

Yuffie blinked and grinned. "Sadly, yes."

"I'm sorry I hurt you, Yuffie…I…I didn't mean too," he was telling the truth.

"You never meant a lot of things you did to me," she took another sip of tea.

"What do you mean?"

Yuffie was silent for a moment, like she was recalling past happenings then she spoke: "I must have texted you a thousand times…you never answered one…not one."

"Yuffie," he didn't want to make her mad like earlier. "You know me…did I ever do that before?" He was being stupid now…he might not have liked getting texts from Yuffie but he did respond to them.

"Maybe not often…but you did respond sometimes and I figured since that night…" she set her cup of tea down and sighed, "I never asked you if you wanted any tea…would you like me to ring you some?" she motioned towards her small bell on the table.

"No, I'm fine," Vincent was thirsty, but he felt that talking with Yuffie was more important. "Yuffie, I'm sorry."

"Why did you come to see me?"

"I…I missed you." He had a very hard time getting it out – but he had to tell the truth.

"Ha!" Yuffie was being sarcastic. "No, really, why did you come to see me? Did Tifa tell you to? Cloud?"

"No one told me," Vincent was offended but he couldn't blame her. "I wanted to see you myself."

"Oh really," she said in a sly tone. "I'm a married woman, Vinnie boy."

He knew that she was playing with him, but he kept it serious all the same. "I realize that, but you are my friend as well, Yuffie."

"I'm glad that I'm your friend, Vincent." She picked up her tea again and took a big gulp. "Who am I kidding…this tea is cold." She smiled and Vincent smiled back.

"I'm still mad at you," she was still smiling.

"I understand," he stopped smiling.

"Hey," she rose which meant that Vincent had to as well. "Do you have any plans?"

"No," Vincent said. "I don't have any plans."

"Would," she started. "Would you like to stay here for awhile?"

"Yes," he smiled again, "If it's not too much trouble."

"You're never too much trouble, Vinnie." She walked around the table and grabbed his arm. "Will you walk with me?" she asked.

"Of course, Lady Great," the whole time he was there he had forgotten that she was the one in charge.

"Please Vincent," Yuffie blushed. "Don't stop calling me 'Yuffie,' okay?"

"Okay."


	10. Meet the Husband

**Chapter 10 - Meet the Husband**

_Well, you can stay all night if you want to  
You can hang out with all of his friends  
You can go and meet his mother and father  
Hmm, you better make sure that's where it ends  
'cause baby, there's one thing that you got to know:  
Let him read your palm and guess your sign  
Let him take you home and treat you fine  
But baby - Don't let him waste your time  
'cause the years fly by in an instant  
And you wonder what he's waiting for  
Oh, then some skinny bitch walks by in some hot pants  
And he's a-running out the door  
So remember that one thing that you got to know:  
Let him read your palm and guess your sign  
Let him take you home and treat you so fine  
But baby - Don't let him waste your time  
You ain't getting no younger  
And you've got nothing to show  
So tell him that it's now or never  
And then - Go go go go go…_

_He can have his space yeah, he can take his time  
Now he can kiss you where the sun don't shine  
Oh baby - Don't let him waste your time  
don't let him waste your time…_

_**Jarvis Cocker - (Don't Let Him Waste Your Time)**_

Yuffie held on to Vincent's arm very tight like if he was a doll that she was afraid to lose. He thought it was cute – it seemed like something she would do. Yes, it wasn't a mystery that she missed him…even if she was still upset with what he had done. They left the porch that they were resting on and went back inside.

"Where should we walk?" Yuffie asked aloud. "Would you like to see my palace or the gardens?"

"You have gardens now?"

"Yes," she said. "Aki didn't want them but I insisted…I do have the overall say you know."

"Of course," Vincent looked around the inside. "Let's start with your palace first and work our way out."

"Wonderful idea, Vinnie," Yuffie pulled gently on his arm and walked down the hallway to the left.

Eventually, Yuffie brought Vincent to the Memorial Room, the place where all of the rulers of Wutai had left their precious belongings. The room was dark and smelled musty, like it hadn't been entered in a very long while. The one window to the room had a curtain over it – the only light that had right to enter was the light from the hallway. Yuffie walked inside and motioned for Vincent to follow (he left the door open so they could see). Yuffie walked to the back of the room and rummaged through a few things, in the meantime Vincent explored the rest of the room alone. Many epic Ninja weapons from old were hanging from the walls and the ceiling with note cards in glass cases propped next to them for identification. He was noticing a few impressive swords and throw stars owned by Yuffie's grandfather when she got his attention.

"Here it is!" she stated.

"What did you find?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie turned towards Vincent – she was holding something small wrapped in white cloth. "It was my mother's," she un-wrapped the cloth and revealed a small dagger with a curved blade and Wutaian writing on the gold handle.

"What does this mean?" Vincent asked, pointing to the writing.

Yuffie sighed, "It says, 'To my darling daughter and future Lady – fight for life and love.'"

"It's quite beautiful, Yuffie."

"My grandmother gave it to her…my mother's mother." Yuffie placed the dagger between herself and the straps tying her robe together. "She was _not_ my grandfather's wife…"

"Oh," what else could Vincent say? "I see."

There was an unnecessary awkward pause between the two of them. Vincent tried to think of something to say…Did she want to continue talking about this subject or did she want it to change? Yuffie was looking at the ground like a cat watching a bug, ready for it to move so she could pounce. She was on edge…that was for certain.

"Shall we continue?" Yuffie asked, still looking at the floor.

"Um…yes" Vincent wasn't going to argue.

"I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I'm not feeling too good right now."

"No," Vincent said, grabbing her shoulder. "It's okay…"

She looked up from the floor and smiled softly at him. He looked into her eyes…they were grey; he hadn't noticed that before…he smiled softly back.

"Chaos is gone…" she said suddenly.

His eyes went wide and he thought about what she had said. "What?" Vincent had totally forgotten to tell her. "How…how did you know?"

Yuffie laughed a little and walked toward the exit of the Memorial Room. "It was a guess," she said with a wink.

"But…" Vincent stopped; he didn't have time to finish. All of a sudden a young man's voice came from the hallway of the palace.

"My sweet…my little butterfly, where are you?"

Yuffie made a face of annoyance when she responded, "I'm here, my love."

A young man of about 23, around Yuffie's age, came up to the door of the Memorial Room and grinned. "Oh hello dear," he then noticed Vincent standing in the background. "Ah," he stated with excitement. "You must be Vincent Valentine!" he walked up to Vincent and bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, sir. I am Aki Keno, the Lady Great's husband and faithful follower." He then lifted his head and gave Vincent a large grin.

Vincent bowed in return. "It is an honor to meet you as well, Aki." It didn't take long for Vincent to notice how…well…geeky Yuffie's husband was. He was short, a little chubby and had his long black hair pinned liked an old-fashioned Wutaian warrior (one style that had not been fashionable for at least one hundred years). If Vincent remembered correctly, Aki wasn't this toothy when his wedding pictures were being taken…was Aki faking his glee towards Vincent?

"Yuffie has told me so much about you!" Aki said with much happiness. "Will you be staying with us for sometime?"

"Yes," Vincent replied. "I have no Gil at the moment and need a place to stay so I can eventually fix up the mansion that I currently inhabit."

"Well my fine sir," Aki's sickening tone reminded Vincent of a game-show host. "You're more than welcome to stay here as long as you like. Sadly I won't be here for very long, I leave tomorrow morning on a business trip."

"What is your business, if you don't mind me asking, Aki?"

"Why, I own one of the casinos at the Golden Saucer! My wife did not tell you that?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Vincent peered over at Yuffie…she was starring at the floor again. "Yuffie and I have not talked in a very long time."

"Understandable," Aki bowed to Vincent once more. "This time alone will give you time to catch up on each other."

Vincent bowed back. "Yes," he said. "I'm sure it will."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must finish packing – care to help me, honey?"

Yuffie looked up from the floor and nodded. "Of course," she said, "but first I must show Vincent his room."

--

Yuffie took Vincent to one of her finest suites. It was a very lovely room, filled with many strange Wutai artifacts on the shelves and traditional Wutaian paintings on the walls. The room was a bright, oriental green with a brown stained canopy bed that had the same colored sheets in towards the back of the room. The suite had a small kitchen and bathroom just for him and a large window with a balcony right outside (not to mention the big screen television across from his bed).

"This is perfect Yuffie, thank you," he looked into her eyes again…they were not happy…they were something…bittersweet maybe? It took him awhile to notice that she was starring right back into his.

"I'm…so glad you're here," she sighed. "I really missed you too, Vincent."

"Yuffie…"

She smiled again, "He's a real nerd isn't he?"

"…uh…"

"Sometimes I feel like he wastes my time with every breath he takes."

"Well," Vincent tried to cheer her up. "At least he's a happy guy."

"Yeah…" Yuffie turned her head to look out the windows. "He's happy alright." She sighed and looked at Vincent again. "I better help him pack, need anything else?"

"No," Vincent said. "Thank you, I'm going to just stay here until the morning if you don't mind."

"That's fine," she said, leaving his room. "I'll make sure my handmaidens know to bring you breakfast in the morning."

"Thank you, Yuffie."

"See you tomorrow, my friend."

"Good-bye…my friend."


	11. Our Families

**Chapter 11 - Our Families**

Vincent did not leave his room that whole afternoon. He felt that bothering Yuffie and Aki on their last night together before Aki left would be…well…rude. So, instead of visiting, Vincent took off his clothes and took another shower.

The shower felt nice and warm and the pressure of the water coming out of the head was just what the doctor ordered. He put his head under the therapeutic liquid and let his short hair part where the water was hitting it and falling over his head and ears. While his hair was over his ears, he could pay attention to the vibratory sound that seemed to be all around him. It seemed like two large conch shells had been brought up to both his ears and the swishing noise of the ocean could be interpreted. It was very relaxing and spiritual for Vincent to have that experience of peace.

After about 45 minutes Vincent left his "life changing" shower and dried him self off. He put on his plaid pajama pants, sat on his very comfortable bed, and turned on the television to watch the news – which he eventually fell asleep to.

--

The gunman awoke when he heard a loud knock at his door. He sat up and rubbed his head, "Who is it?" he asked.

A cackling female voice answered. "My name is Yoko sir! I am here with your breakfast!" she cried out. Vincent groaned and looked at the digital clock next to his bed. It was six o'clock in the morning. He regretfully said the next words: "Come in."

It was an elderly handmaiden with a yellow Wutaian robe on her tiny wrinkled body and her grey hair pulled back into a tight bun. "Hello Mr. Valentine," the old woman said gleefully. "I have been one of Miss Yuffie's handmaidens since the day she was born! It's so nice to meet another one of her greatest friends."

"It's nice to meet you too," but Vincent began to feel uncomfortable when the old woman stopped and looked at him with a small smirk.

"Oh, you are a handsome man, Mr. Valentine," she set the tray of breakfast foods next to his bed. "Miss Yuffie was right about you…you have a sexy six-pack."

Vincent forgot that he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Uh…um…thank you…" he stammered.

"I hope you enjoy your foods of goodness!" Yoko stated as she began to leave. "Would you like me to wash all of your clothes?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

"I will bring you some Wutai garb to wear in the meantime," Yoko picked up all of Vincent's clothes. After she got the ones on the floor she walked over to Vincent and stuck out her hand. "I'm going to need those pajamas too," she giggled after she said that.

Now Vincent was very uncomfortable…nevertheless, he slipped himself under the covers and slid off his pajama pants. "Um…here…" he took them out from under the sheets and handed them to her.

"Oh," she exclaimed. "Thank you very much, Mr. Valentine! Don't you go no where now! I will be back with some robes."

--

When the older handmaiden had finally given Vincent his robes he quickly changed into them and ate his breakfast. It was very good – no doubt about that. It reminded him of his older sister when she would make breakfast when their mother was away. It was always good to eat but it was never the same. He had to give his sister credit though, she was not one to just make breakfast because it was the "nice thing to do," but when their mother was called away to deliver a baby – she was always there to help him and their father out. As he thought upon these memories – he realized that his breakfast tasted just as good as it did before…wait…his mother…his sister…his father. He had not thought of his family in so long. He had almost forgotten them…in fact…it did forget them. Why? What made him never think of his family? The memory of them had almost been erased! Did Hojo and Chaos have anything to do with it? Or…or did he do it himself.

As he was finishing his food there was a knock on his door. Fearful that it was Yoko but still willing to face her he said, "Come in."

"Vincent," It was Yuffie; her head popped in with her eyes glued shut. "Are you decent?"

"Yes, Yuffie," he said sighing. "You can open your eyes."

Yuffie opened her eyes and laughed, embarrassed. "Sorry! How was your breakfast?"

"It was very good."

"Oh good," Yuffie stepped in and looked around the room. "Aki just left about 10 minutes ago; do…uh…you want to hang out with me?"

She sounded like a little kid. "Um, aren't you busy?" he asked.

"Not today," she said. "Tomorrow I have a meeting with a few townsfolk and my father's step-brother."

"You are having a 'meeting' with your uncle?"

"Unfortunately," she whined. "It's about legal stuff…my father's dead you know."

"I figured that."

There was another awkward pause and then Vincent spoke again. "I'm very sorry, Yuffie."

"Don't be," she said. "He was an asshole."

Vincent couldn't have agreed more. "I have not been to the gardens yet," he said.

"Then I will take you there!" Yuffie smiled and ran over to Vincent; grabbing his arm.

--

"Yuffie," Vincent said. "You seem very sad."

The two friends walked through the gardens that Yuffie insisted on putting in. The one that Yuffie thought was the best were the cherry tree and Knock-out rose garden and decided to take Vincent through that one. Everything was pink and red – it was almost overwhelming. They were both wearing navy blue and black Wutai robes and the pinkish red colors from the blossoms made them both stick out like sore thumbs. Vincent noticed Yuffie's face and saw that she was deep in thought…it seemed to be a melancholy thought.

"I…" she started. "I guess I've just been feeling all kinds of mixed emotions lately."

"How so?"

"I'm…" she had a hard time getting it out. "I've been thinking about my mother a lot." She brought Vincent to a bench that was under one of the cherry trees in the garden. "She was a princess like I was and my father was just a rich man's son who got lucky."

"I am here to listen, Yuffie…who was your grandmother?" He knew that she wanted to talk – even if it wasn't about this – she just wanted to talk about something.

"My real grandmother was a journey woman," she began. "She had no family and no home and just traveled around fighting demons for Gil. That's what she loved – she loved living simply and saving the lives of others." Yuffie sighed. "I guess, one day she came to Wutai on a mission and met my grandfather…well, and you know how that turned out. My grandfather's wife was unable to bear children because of a medical condition and because my grandfather was the rightful ruler of Wutai and my mother was his first born heir, no matter who the other parent was, my mother would be the future Lady. My grandmother had already raised my mother to be four months old when my grandfather confronted her. She knew that having a child wasn't the life for her and knew that my mother would be well taken care of as the princess of Wutai…so, she gave her up. My grandfather's wife was an excellent mother to her…so my real grandmother made the right choice." Yuffie looked up at the blue sky through the cherry blossoms.

"I miss my mother, Vincent."

"I know how you feel," he said. "How much do you remember of her?"

"A lot," she said. "She died when I was old enough to remember her laugh and her smile, and her love for me."

"From pictures that I've seen she seemed to be a beautiful woman too."

"She really was…so much more beautiful than me."

"No," Vincent said with surprise. "Yuffie, you're a beautiful girl too."

"Thanks but I'm really not."

"Don't say that," Vincent was upset with her attitude. "You shouldn't say things like that about yourself."

"You're one to talk," she said. "You were always emo about yourself and your past."

She was right – 'Mr. Grumpy-pants' was a name that Yuffie was not shy to call him. "Yuffie," he said. "I'm different now."

She sighed. "Yes, I know."

"Yuffie, how did you know about Chaos?"

She was quiet for a moment… "What was your family like?" she was changing the subject on him.

"Yuffie," he said. "Please answer my question."

"I will if you answer mine first! I don't know anything about your family, Vincent. I told you a little history about mine…what about yours?" Her grey eyes pleaded with him.

"My life isn't that interesting…"

"Oh please," Yuffie put her hands on her hips.

"Well," he said. "My life before…everything else that is." He looked deep into Yuffie's eyes and tried to see if he could see through her – it was very difficult to do so.

"I had an older sister, her name was Dalia, she…she died very young."

"I'm sorry," Yuffie really was too. "What did she die from?"

"She died in child birth, along with her baby girl." Vincent tried not to be emotional.

"That's horrible."

"I was young; maybe 13 or 14 when it happened…" Vincent was starting to 'feel' that feeling again. "Yuffie, I've never told anyone about this…not even Lucrecia…In fact, over the years, I've forgotten my sister all together."

Yuffie didn't seem fazed. "What about your parents?"

"After I became a Turk, my parents moved – they weren't proud of the job that I had chosen and wanted to be far away from me…after Cloud and Tifa found me I looked them up…they had both died of heart trouble two years prior."

"How could you forget your own family?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know," Vincent sighed. "I guess…I blocked them from my mind because losing them was too much for me to handle."

"I've been trying to do that with Godo," Yuffie said, looking at the sky again. "It's been hard, even though I hated his guts; he was still my father after all."

Since his first meeting with Yuffie in a long time, Vincent thought that he was wrong about her. He thought that she had finally changed and become what he thought was her true self – then after she threw him across the room and got to know her a little bit more that day and today, he realized that she was always herself – she was never different.

"This is the longest we've ever talked, Yuffie."

Yuffie turned to Vincent and looked at his face carefully. "You're right," she said, and then, she gave him a hug. "I like talking with you."

Vincent sat there with Yuffie holding him tight – he had to admit, he missed her suffocating hugs; so, he decided to hug her back. "Same here," he replied.


	12. Beautiful Confession

**Chapter 12 - "I Love You"**

Aki Keno was at the Golden Saucer like he said he would be _and _he was there on business like he said he would be…on business to visit Yuffie's step-uncle, Jiro. Yuffie would be meeting with him the next day so he needed to make sure he didn't miss him in the crowds of people all around the casino that his father once owned. Aki tried to look over the peoples' heads but he was too short to do this so he began to crawl on his hands and knees to see if he could see the man's distinct dark green leather shoes. The crowds of costumers playing the machines and gambling in Aki's casino seemed more like enemies than money in the bank – how did he ever expect to see Jiro!? Aki, of course, was thinking to quickly – all of a sudden he bumped into a large man's left leg. "Excuse me, sir," but as Aki saw the green shoes and looked up to see the dark, menacing face of Jiro, he quickly shut-up.

"What took you so long?" Jiro demanded, holding a martini in his hand.

--

Vincent so far had stayed at Yuffie's palace for only a few days – they had met for lunch more than once and saw each other for dinner on some occasions. Yuffie was mostly busy with meetings with her public and the mayors of certain towns on the planet. She was exceptionally busy the second day he was there – she was meeting with her uncle who went by the name of Jiro. Yuffie explained to Vincent that he was Godo's younger brother that had been introduced to the family when Godo was young and his father had re-married. They did not get along well but they were similar when it came to greed. After the meeting, Yuffie met with Vincent for lunch; she was still wearing her traditional Wutai ruler garments, make-up and everything.

"Would you like to change before we eat?" Vincent had asked her, but Yuffie just shook her head.

"No," she had said; exhausted. "I'm hungry."

She had eaten a whole plate full of food before she sat back and relaxed. "Whew," she said. "I feel better now."

"How was your meeting?" Vincent had asked.

"It was okay…God, that man is a jerk."

"Why?" Vincent ate more of his rice. "Did he give you a hard time about something?"

"Pretty much," she said. "He just thinks that I should be more understanding and start trying for an heir."

"An heir?" Vincent almost choked on his rice. "You've only been married to Aki for a few months and he wants you to have a baby already?"

"Well," Yuffie sighed. "If something should happen to me…something serious…than the blood-line would be lost and my uncle wants it, for my ancestors' sake, to keep going."

"I assume that you're not ready for that kind of responsibility…the one of having a child." Vincent inquired.

"I'm barely ready to do _this_," Yuffie exclaimed, motioning all around her palace. "To be honest, Vincent, I really don't care what happens to me…Aki is a great guy, a nerd, but a great guy and I'm sure that he'll marry someone who could help him rule this place…the thing is that, I loved my mother and this place was _her_ place, her home, her kingdom…and I want it to be taken good care of. I feel that I'm the only one who can do that. Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the only reason I didn't run away in the first place was because of my mother and her mission to save Wutai and bring it beauty."

"So you want to fix up Wutai as much as you can before having children?"

"That's pretty much the idea," Yuffie gave him a tired smile. "My uncle thinks that it's stupid."

"It's not stupid," Vincent had said. "I think it's smart."

"I think _you're_ smart, Vinnie," Yuffie got up to leave. "You were born into a family that wasn't royalty…go you!" She gave him the peace sign and left the dining area.

--

"Hey Tifa," Vincent said.

Vincent's phone had been ringing while he was watching television in the afternoon. He saw that it was Tifa and answered it.

"Hi Vin," Tifa said. "What are you up too?"

"Nothing," he said, changing the channels. "Just watching the tube…"

"Alan, don't throw that! Oh man, one second," Vincent could hear Tifa set her cell phone down and run across the room she was in. "Sorry, Alan got a hold of my left over materia and almost threw it across the room."

"That's fine," Vincent said simply. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good, Cloud wanted me to call and check on you and Yuffie…how…um…how are you guys?"

Vincent knew that Tifa was lying about Cloud and that she just wanted to be nosy. "Well, I've been earning Gil by killing monsters and I've been here for five days and her hubby hasn't shown up from his 'business' trip and…"

"Wait," Tifa stopped him. "Loki hasn't been there the whole time you've been there?"

"His name is 'Aki' and no he hasn't been here."

"Wow," after Tifa had said that, Vincent heard a cheerful scream on the other line and assumed it was Alan. "Aw, do you want to say 'hi' to Uncle Vincent, Alley? Here Vince, say hi to Alan!"

"Um…hi Alan," Vincent tried to raise his voice so it sounded cute…that was _very_ hard for him to do. "Are you taking good care of your mommy?"

"Say 'hi' Alan…say 'hi!' Oh well," Tifa seemed disappointed. "He's just shy I guess. So, has Yuffie talked to Aki at all since he left?"

"Yeah," Vincent replied – he brought his voice back down to its monotone level. "I've seen her on the phone with him."

"How are you feeling since we last talked, Vincent?"

"Okay I guess," he didn't really know what he was feeling. "I…I feel different."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he said. "I think you were right about her… and about me. It was wrong of me to put all of my longing emotions towards her just because I thought she was a lot more mature."

"So," she began to ask. "You think that your feelings towards her were just a hoax or something?"

"Yeah," he said. "I think I liked the _idea_ of being in love with someone…even Yuffie."

"But you thought of _her_ a lot…didn't you?"

"Yeah I did, but that…that was…that was nothing." Was it really _nothing_ though? He couldn't decide…damn it all. Did he love Yuffie or just respect her greatly now? He couldn't tell the difference anymore. "Fuck…" he sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"What?" Tifa questioned.

"No," Vincent replied right away, "nothing."

"Do you see what I mean with her whole 'growing up' deal? _That's_ how she's changed…she's still the same old Yuffie."

"Yeah," Vincent agreed. "She always has been the same old Yuffie…" I was just lucky enough to see her grow for the first time that night, he thought.

"Well," Tifa said. "I'm glad you're earning some Gil…and I'm glad that you and Yuffie are friends."

"Yup," Vincent said simply, "just friends."

"Have a good afternoon, Vincent," Tifa concluded. "I'll let Cloud know that you guys are doing well."

"Thanks," Vincent said. "Good-bye."

--

"So," Jiro said with a sly tone. "How is my 'niece'?"

"The Lady Great is fine…I guess." Aki was as stiff as a board; he was trembling inside but he wasn't going to let Jiro see that.

"You guess?" Jiro said. He was sitting behind his office desk in the dark – the only light that could be seen were the lights coming through his window from the activities happening at the Golden Saucer. Jiro sighed, "Has she talked about having any children?"

"No," Aki said, a little embarrassed. "In fact…she hasn't even been…uh…close to me."

"I see," Jiro said. "You understand that because of me you now _own_ this place, right?"

"Yes sir," Aki said.

"You also understand that because of me you are now apart of the royal family of Wutai, right?"

"Yes…sir," Aki was now beginning to show his nervousness.

"Don't fuck this up, Aki," Jiro said simply. "I've done a lot for you and because of this you _have_ to do a lot for me."

"I understand sir," Aki tried not to run in fear.

"I don't give a damn what happens to Yuffie Kisaragi," Jiro said with more sternness in his voice. "But the only way her death is going to work is if she at least admits that she's thinking of having children soon…then people will assume that her death was to destroy the family blood line and not just to put the Keno family in control."

"Yes, Jiro Keno," Aki addressed his cousin.

"This is what our parents have been planning from the very beginning, Aki," Jiro said. "My mother made sure Godo married Lady Yoshe and your mother begged me on her death bed to make you the future ruler of Wutai by marrying Yuffie."

"Yes, I understand," Aki said.

"I will speak with Yuffie tomorrow about considering having children and you will do the same when you return, got it?" Although Jiro's face was hidden, Aki could feel his cousin's eyes piercing through the darkness.

"Um…" Aki began, "I have one question – how will you be terminating the Lady Great?"

"I will hire an assassin of course," Jiro said with a small hint of delight. "Now, enjoy yourself, Aki, and meet a couple of woman to have fun with."

"Will do, sir!" Aki left his cousin's office with a start as Jiro watched him with his head shaking.

--

The blood was everywhere…all over the forest's trees and the ground, on his face and on his clothes. "I've never seen a demon bleed so much before," Vincent sighed. He picked up the monster by the leg and dragged it back the small village of Nano – it was a new town next to Wutai. "They better pay me double for this."

The town's people, of course, were more than happy to pay Vincent double for the great job he did in killing the monster that had attacked the town a day prior. The gunman thanked the town's people respectably and walked back to Wutai. He was tired and he had hurt his shoulder during the struggle with the beast. When he got to the palace and to his room he rang for the handmaiden Yoko to get him some bandages and potions to heal his wound.

After he had given Yoko his bloody clothes and she in return gave him his bandages and potion – Vincent cleaned up his shoulder and washed his body off as well in the shower that he took. He dried himself off, applied the potion and bandages and put on a short sleeved black shirt and dark jeans. Vincent checked the digital clock to see what time it was – 6:24pm. He was to meet Yuffie for dinner in just a few minutes.

Vincent left his room and walked to the dinning area to meet his good friend. She was already there, waiting for him, wearing green and brown robes with her hair in a loose bun. The candlelight against her skin made her olive skin glow in the darkness and her grey eyes dance. Vincent would not have admitted it then – but he thought she looked absolutely beautiful; she smiled as he entered.

"Hi Vinnie," she said softly.

"Hi," he said simply. "How was your day?"

"Okay," she said. "Nothing too new…how was your day?"

"I killed a demon not too long ago," he said, grimacing.

Yuffie laughed at his facial expression. "From the look on your face I can tell it was a doozy."

"Yeah," he said as their food arrived. "I've never seen one bleed so much."

"Huh," Yuffie said. "That's interesting."

There was a pause as the two friends ate most of their dinner – Vincent noticed Yuffie looking up from her plate once in a while to look at Vincent and he found himself doing the same thing to her. It was childish…but he sort of enjoyed it. It was like a game they were playing with each other and when they both caught each other doing it. This went on throughout the whole meal until finally they both looked up at the same time. Instead of looking away in embarrassment, they both became eye locked. It was strange and a bit uncomfortable – but they both could not seem to look away. It was a while before another handmaiden by the name of Mori came up to them.

"Um," the handmaiden asked. "Would you like dessert?"

Yuffie broke her stare and spoke, "No, thank you, Mori."

Vincent however, did not break his stare. "I'm fine as well," he said.

Mori left in a rush and giggled to the other handmaidens in the corner. Yuffie turned and looked at Vincent again. "It's warm out…" she said simply.

"Um…yeah," Vincent stammered.

"We could take another walk if you want," she continued.

"I…uh," He wanted to say that he was tired, he wanted to say he wasn't interested, he wanted to say that she was married and shouldn't take moonlight strolls with her friends that were boys…instead he said. "I would like that."

--

They made their way outside and to the Water Garden, the farthest garden from her royal pagoda. There were many eastern stylized ponds with large fish and bridges over the waters. The moon was out – but it wasn't full; it was crescent. It made the rest of the ponds glow and the fireflies dance over the water because they knew that they were safe from the few fish that might try to eat them. Yuffie walked to one of the bridges and showed Vincent a small plaque on the bridge's side. It read: "In Memory of the Lady Yoshe."

"My mother," Yuffie confirmed.

"That's great," Vincent said. "Does Godo have one?"

Yuffie shook her head. "Usually the people who marry into the family get nothing."

"That's tough," Vincent replied.

"It's not that big of a deal," Yuffie said with a smirk. "But, I guess, for some people it is."

"Will I have to wait until you die before I can see a beautiful plaque with your name on it?" Vincent joked.

Yuffie laughed, "Yep, you'll have to wait. It takes Gil to make these…see?" she pointed to the plaque again. "Its solid gold – with some protection on it to keep it clean from the rain and snow. That's why they wait until someone dies, silly; it's not worth the pay when someone is alive."

"Hmmm," Vincent considered; joking again. "Gil is something I can't spend right now."

"You can kill me yourself for the Gil," she said with a small smile. "I'm sure a lot of people want me dead…plus it would pay for the plaque."

"Ha," Vincent laughed. "That's okay, Yuffie," he said. "You're my friend…I'd kill you for nothing."

A small giggle came out of Yuffie's mouth when he said that; it soon turned into a large roar of laughter. Her laughter was so contagious that it made Vincent laugh heartily as well. Yuffie grabbed onto Vincent's arm for support and as she used her other arm to grabbed her stomach. Vincent held her shoulder to keep her from falling on the ground and continued laughing as well.

"Do you make that up yourself?" Yuffie said, wiping her eyes.

Her face was strained from laughing so hard and her grey eyes were pink around the edges and filled with what Lucrecia used to call "happy tears."

"Um," Vincent said, containing himself. "I wish I could say yes, it was on a movie I watched a long time ago."

"You're so cute," she said, standing straight. "God, Vinnie," she said, looking into his wine colored eyes. "You're perfect."

"Hey, that's an overstatement, Yuffie," Vincent said; he was still holding her shoulder.

"No it's not!" she said. "I like you a lot and…I've always liked you…I always thought you were the coolest guy, the nicest guy, the smartest guy…Oh man…" she sighed and laughed. "I love you, Mr. Valentine."

"What?" Vincent couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You heard me," she said smiling. "I love you."

"Yuffie…" but he couldn't finish. Yuffie stood on her tip-toes and kissed him gently. It was a simple kiss on the side of his mouth; but it was enough to get the spark in Vincent flying. He put his other hand on her shoulder and brought her closer to him. He leaned down a kissed her full on the mouth. She tasted so sweet, so good – this was the dessert he wanted. They made out like this for awhile until Vincent broke the kiss and began kissing Yuffie's chin and then her neck. Yuffie moaned slightly and put her fingers through his dark hair. Vincent turned and kissed the other side of her neck and she began kissing his cheek and ear. Vincent brought his mouth back to her lips and kissed her there again.

"Do you," Yuffie tried to speak as Vincent was kissing her. "Do you want to go back?"

"Already?" he asked with a touch of sadness. "I like this," he kept kissing her. Not once did he think about how Yuffie was married…not once.

"No," she breathed out. "I mean back to your room."

Vincent stopped kissing her and looked at the beautiful Yuffie Kisaragi in front of him. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," she said with a grin.

--

_You're so nice and you're so smart  
you're such a good friend I have to break your heart  
I'll tell you that I love you then I'll tear your world apart  
just pretend I didn't tear your world apart._

_Kimya Dawson (So Nice So Smart)_


	13. Sympathy from an Angel

**Chapter 13 - Sympathy from an Angel  
**

The trip back to Vincent's room seemed to be non-existent. He actually felt like he was flying there it happened so fast – before he knew it, Yuffie had opened the door to his room and pushed him inside. She turned his body and shoved him against the back of the door and threw herself at his body. She began to kiss his neck and move up to his ear and then to his mouth. The whole time Vincent was moaning with pleasure. He hadn't felt this way in a very long time and didn't want it to end. He put his hands on Yuffie's hips and brought them closer to his. Yuffie giggled and began to rub herself against him. As she did this, Vincent brought his hands up her back and to the top of her shoulders. He began to slip her brown robes off of her shoulders and kiss the bare skin. Yuffie smiled and leaned to one said so that Vincent could move her shoulder and up her neck again.

"Careful not to make a mark," she said softly.

Vincent made a small chuckling noise and continued to kiss her. As he was kissing up her neck he brought his hands in front of Yuffie and peeled away her robes and let the robes drop to her waist. He then put both hands over her small breasts and moved over them a few times. Yuffie moaned as he did this and brought her hands down to the bottom of his black shirt and tried to lift it off of him. Vincent, momentarily, took his hands away from Yuffie's chest and pulled his shirt off himself, then went back to rubbing her breasts. As he did this, Yuffie began to back away and walk towards the other side of the room. Vincent took a good look at the woman he was with – she was skinny but healthy and fit, her hair shined in the small moonlight that shone through Vincent's window. Her eyes were like a stormy ocean that was crashing against the olive sand that was her skin.

Yuffie brought her hands up to her hair and took out the bun to let her hair flow to her back. She got on top of Vincent's bed and laid on one of his pillows. She brought up both of her hands and motioned for him to join her. We hurried his way over to sit next to her; when he sat he looked at Yuffie's face as she lay on his bed. He brought his head down and kissed her lips once and then he moved directly to her chest. Yuffie moaned as he began caressing and kissing her breasts. Her whole body smelt of sun-kissed skin and lotion; she tasted tangy yet sweet as his savor for her upper body was satisfying him. Yuffie lifted herself off of the bed and turned Vincent over onto his back. She slid her fingers over his chest and stomach lightly, like she was using finger-paints to draw on him. He smiled as she played with his senses and pushed a small piece of hair away from her face and behind her ear. Yuffie smiled back and worked her hand down to Vincent's pants and put her hand in between his legs. Vincent breathed in like he was stepping into a cold shower…only this felt amazing. Yuffie continued to rub her hand between his legs and enjoy the moans that Vincent was vocalizing. She brought her face down to Vincent and kissed him on the mouth. He brought both of his hands up on either side of her head and pulled her closer to him. They continued kissing before Vincent broke it.

"I…" he tried to get the words out, "I love you, Yuffie." He had not said those words to any woman since Lucrecia because he had not felt this way about anyone since then.

Yuffie smiled, "I'm so glad you do," she said sincerely.

--

Vincent was curled up under the blankets when he heard his alarm go off. He pressed his face against the pillow his head was resting on and groaned. He was never one for waking up early – yet he always did in the past because he was a light sleeper. That had changed once Chaos was out of him. He twisted his head over to the side the alarm was on and opened one eye. It read 4:30am.

Confused, Vincent reached out his hand to turn it off but was stopped by Yuffie's hand gently pushing it away. Vincent looked up to see Yuffie with her hair down and one of Vincent's sheets wrapped around her body. Of course, he remembered, she had spent the night with him. He smiled at her and held her by the hand that she used to push him away.

"It's still dark out," he said sleepily.

Yuffie smiled back and turned off the alarm. She let go of Vincent's hand and pressed her hair back. "Go back to sleep, Vinnie boy," she whispered.

"Where are _you_, going?" he asked with a yawn.

"I'm going to get dressed and go back to my own room," she said. "Please, go back to sleep."

Vincent grabbed for her hand again. "Stay with me," he pleaded.

"I can't," she said. "I'll see you in a few hours." Yuffie walked to the other side of the room where Vincent could hear her getting dressed. After a while, Yuffie came back around and touched Vincent's head. "Sleep," was all that she said before she walked out of his room and closed the door behind her.

And Vincent was alone once again.

--

"Hello!" said a voice on the other side of the gunman's door. "It's me!" It was Yoko, Yuffie's elderly handmaiden out to disturb Vincent again. Vincent sat up in his bed and rubbed the hair on his head vigorously. "Come in," he said.

Yoko came inside with a try of fruit and a glass of orange juice. "Miss Yuffie asked me to give you lots of goody good fruit for your breakfast!"

"Thank you," Vincent replied. He was about to lift the blankets off of himself and then suddenly remembered something very important…he was naked. "Um…" he stammered. "Could you set the try over there," he pointed towards the dresser closest to the door, "Please?"

"Ah," exclaimed Yoko with annoyance. "I see how it is…well, enjoy your poo, poo foody food, Mr. Valentine!" Yoko set the tray on the dresser with a smack and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Vincent, a little confused over what had just happened, lifted the sheets and got out of bed. He dressed himself in dark green cargo pants and a black long sleeved shirt and went into the bathroom. Wow, he thought, what had happened last night? As he looked in the mirror at himself, he began to recall all that had happened…it started out with Yuffie kissing him…then they made-out and then…and then…

"We had sex," Vincent said to himself. "God of the Planet…why do I let stuff like this happen to me?" He propped his head against the mirror and sighed. "I should apologize to her," he thought. "That's the gentlemanly thing to do, right?" Vincent was about to leave his room when he thought, "Wait, I don't have to apologize…_she _came on to me! No, I took advantage of her as well…okay, I guess it's both of our faults…No, woman don't like to hear that…okay, it was _MY _fault but it's Yuffie's doing…ug, that doesn't even make any sense!"

When Vincent eventually left his room he began to think of everything that was going through his head, repeating stuff back to himself and making sure what he was going to say to her sounded right. It wasn't long before fate began its horrible reign when Yuffie came around the corner and bumped into Vincent.

"Oh," Vincent said with nervousness. "Uh…hi, Yuffie."

"Hi, Vincent," Yuffie said plainly. "Are you okay?"

"Um," he could feel the sweat on his brow appearing. "Sure, are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine," she said dumbly, like she was trying to hide something. "Aki is coming home tomorrow, apparently."

"Oh," Vincent couldn't help but sound disappointed. "I didn't know that."

"Neither did I," Yuffie said with annoyance. "My Uncle Jiro is here today and he told me the news," Yuffie started to walk by Vincent. "He's bald and wears green shoes, if you see him around you should say 'hey.'"

"Um…okay."

"I have my first meeting today about taxes," Yuffie stuck her finger in her mouth and made a gagging noise. "I have to go get dressed, see ya!"

Vincent was about to say, 'Good-bye' but Yuffie ran off like a flash. She was trying to avoid him because of what had happened. Now that Aki was going to be back there's no telling what sort of attitude she would give him. What could he do? Who could he talk to about this? He needed advice…

--

"Hey Tifa," Cloud's voice was coming from downstairs.

"What!?" Tifa called from the bedroom – she was trying to take a nap.

"Alan just broke one of your wine glasses and…"

"WHAT!!" Tifa got up from her bed as fast as she could and ran down the stairs. "CLOUDYOUWERESUPPOSEDTOBEWATCHINGHIMHOWCOULDYOULETTHIS HAPPENISHEHURTOHMYGODIFHE'SBLEEDINGI'MGOINGTOKILLYOU WHERETHEHELLISTHEVACUUM!!"

"T-Teef," Cloud stammered. "He's okay…I just wanted to let you know that he pushed it off the counter top." Cloud looked as if he was about to cry. "I already cleaned it up! You should be careful…you don't want to have the baby in the kitchen…"

Tifa was breathing heavily and sat at the kitchen table. She looked over at Alan who was playfully rolling on his blanket next to her. Tifa sighed and patted her son's dark head. "You bad boy," she said. "Did you yell at him?" she turned to look at Cloud.

"Um," Cloud hesitated. "Not really…"

"Cloud you can't do that!" Tifa was upset. "If I'm the only one who punishes him he'll learn to resent me!"

"I'm sorry!" Cloud said. "I…it's just…it's hard to punish him! He's so cute after all…I mean he looks a lot like you!"

"Excuses, excuses," Tifa sighed. At that moment Cloud's cell-phone in his pocket began to ring – he picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?" he said. There was some noise on the other end and Cloud nodded. "Tifa," he said. "It's Vince; he needs your advice about Yuffie."

"Ug," Tifa groaned. "I wonder what happened."

--

"This is a bad idea," Vincent said to himself as he dialed Tifa's phone number. "I mean," he said. "I can handle this right?" He couldn't figure out why he was so shaky…damn it, who was he kidding…HE JUST SLEPT WITH YUFFIE KISARAGI! Not only that, she was a newlywed to a very rich man… and not only that, she was the ruler of Wutai! He knew that he had to tell someone; this was a serious matter. "Great," he thought, as the phone call connected. "I feel like a teenage girl calling her best-friends about a…"

"_Hi, this is Tifa! I can't come to the phone right now so leave a message!"_

The voicemail message made Vincent hang up the phone immediately. Maybe Tifa not picking up was a sign that he had to take care of the situation on his own. He sat on his bed and thought of what he should do. He knew that he had to talk to Yuffie – there was no doubt about that, but he didn't know how to start the conversation. I guess the first thing he really should do is figure out his feelings. He remembered telling Yuffie that he _loved_ her but did he really mean it? He wanted to say 'yes,' he really did mean it but she was married…No, you can easily be in love with someone who is already married, that doesn't mean anything…He decided to call Cloud's phone.

--

"Hey Vince," said Tifa. "What's up?"

"Um," Vincent sighed. "Hi, Tifa…things are okay."

"That's good," she looked at Cloud and shrugged. "Is Yuffie okay?"

"I think so," come on, Vincent, pull yourself together. "Are you alone?"

"Yes," Tifa lied; she put her index finger up to her mouth to signal for Cloud to be quiet. "What's up, Vincent?"

"I don't know how to tell you," he started. "I'm more worried about Yuffie than about me…"

"Vincent," Tifa said sternly; she was beginning to worry. "What happened?"

--

"Yuffie and I…" he started. "We had…we slept together last night, Tifa."

"You…" Tifa didn't know what to say – at first she froze completely and then she could feel her palms sweat and her face turn red. "You slept with her?"

Cloud's face hung like a window shade; his mouth wide open. "He what?" he whispered.

Tifa swished her hand to quiet him – "Vincent…" she said. "How could you…?"

"Just hold on a minute," he wasn't going to be blamed by Tifa. "I don't mean to sound arrogant _but I didn't start it_!"

"Oh no," Tifa sighed. "Oh no, oh no…um…Have you talked to her yet?"

"I tried to but she ran off," Vincent said.

"Well of course she did!" Tifa yelled. "She's probably embarrassed! Oh no…" she rubbed her eyes wearily.

"Tifa," Vincent began to admit. "Half of it _is_ my fault…"

"No duh! It takes two people to tango, Vincent," she said with disappointment.

"I realize this," he said with annoyance, "but Yuffie…"

"There are no 'buts,' Vince," she said. "You told me that you loved Yuffie, am I correct?"

"Yes," he couldn't deny it.

"You also told me that your feelings had changed, am I correct?"

"…Yes…" he was feeling like a child again.

"Which one is it, Vincent?" she asked with a severe tone.

"I don't know," he truthfully admitted. "I honestly don't know."

"She's loved you for a long time, Vincent," Tifa said. "I mean a _long_ time."

"I thought she might have a crush on me…" Vincent said, but was interrupted by Tifa again.

"You don't have a "crush" on someone for almost 6 years…especially with all that you've been through together. Trust me, I know..." She was looking at Cloud when she said this.

"I see," Vincent confessed. "I see…"

"Do you understand what you've done to her? You've led her on to believe something that could never happen…the belief that you two can ever be together."

"Who says…" his mouth was working faster than his brain. "Who says that we can never be together?"

"I can't believe this," Tifa sighed. "I never should have suggested that you see her."

"You're right, Tifa," and now it was Vincent's turn to hang up on _her_. Well, he thought as he set his phone down and fell back on his bed, that was a waste of time…or was it…he didn't know Yuffie had loved him for that long; 6 years…that really was a long time to be looking at one person. He felt hot inside; he was angry at himself…Tifa was right. He should have never done that to her…he couldn't help himself…yes, he _could_ have helped himself, his will was strong, he realized this when it came to the incident with Tifa…but Tifa didn't make him melt inside when she spoke…Tifa didn't make him think of her 24/7 when she wasn't around…he thought Tifa was a beautiful person…but he wasn't in love with her…he was in love with…

It was then that Vincent began to think of Lucrecia; the one person he used to think of all the time – and that was an understatement. She was the person he would pray to and ask advice from, she never answered him back of course, but he always saw signs around him that must have been from her. He knew that she tried to communicate through these signs to him so that he would know that he was never alone – that she was always with him.

--

Vincent suddenly opened his eyes and found himself under a shady apple tree. The sun was out and the clouds were moving fast across the blue sky. Vincent reached out his hand and felt the grass that he was laying on; it was smooth and a little damp. He just laid there and breathed in the fresh air moving over his body. He didn't close his eyes – fearing that this vision would disappear on him. He just continued to lay there and look at the sky above through the apple tree's leaves – enjoying every minute of the peace.

"_What are you doing?_" said a sweet voice.

Suddenly, above Vincent's body, stood a young woman with long, light brown hair tied up in a pony tail. Her face was cream colored and her eyes were the color of the milky blue sky overhead. She wore a light colored azure summer dress with gold bracelets on her creamy wrists. Her medium sized, smooth peach lips turned and became a warm and inviting smile.

"Lucrecia," tears began to form in Vincent's eyes. "Is that really you?"

"_Who else would it be?_" she said with a giggle like wind chimes. "_Are you okay?_"

"I am now," he sighed.

"_Oh Vincent_," she said as she sat next to him. "_You should feel well all of the time, even when I'm not here._"

"That's been very hard for me to do," he moved his body over and placed his head on her lap. "It's been hard to live without you."

"_I'm sorry_," she moved her fingers through his hair. "_I should have never done that to you…_"

"It wasn't you're fault," he said hastily. "It was…_his_ fault."

"_I guess we are all at fault for something…_" she sighed.

"Let's not talk about that," Vincent held on to her thigh. "God, I love being with you."

"_I love being with you too,_" she said, "_I'm always with you, you know._"

"I know," he said but Lucrecia wasn't buying it.

"_Don't be attached to my body, Vincent,_" she continued to rub his hair. "_If you must attach yourself to me, become attached to my spirit and the stunning memories we made together._"

"I try," he said. His voice was begining to choke. "Lucrecia, I'm sorry I forgot about you." Then, for the first time in a long time, Vincent cried heavily. "I…" he choked "I never wanted to forget you…"

"_Shhh,_" Lucrecia tried to comfort him. "_Vincent, honey, don't cry. Yuffie never asked for you to forget me._"

"…What?" Vincent looked up at his past lover, tears still in his eyes.

"_That's what's been bothering you, right?_" she wiped some of the tears away from his eyes, "_You felt that because Yuffie told you to move on you had to forget me. That's not what she meant at all…_"

"But how," Vincent asked. "How can I love someone else after loving you?"

"_It's not that hard,_" she said with a smile. "T_hat's what you've been doing all this time, isn't it?_"

"I'm sorry," Vincent said.

"_And that's exactly what I don't want you to be,_" she said, bopping him on the nose, gently, with her finger. "_Yuffie loves and cares for you very much, and I know you do for her_."

"I just wish…" he started.

"_She was right,_" Lucrecia interrupted. "_I'm dead…there's no going back and wishing for something different. The only thing that you can do now is give someone else the love that you would have given me and live your life to the fullest._"

"I understand," Vincent sighed; he was at peace.

"_I will always be here for you, Vincent,_" she said softly. "_Don't ever forget that._"

"I won't," he closed his eyes for the first time as he lay on her lap. "I promise."

--

A few minutes later, Vincent awoke from the nap that he had apparently been taking. He sat up in his bed and looked at his clock – he had been asleep for only a half and hour. He rubbed his eyes and caught a few left over tears from his vision. He sighed, "Thank you, Lucrecia," he said aloud. "I promise…"

Vincent decided to leave his room and take a walk outside, maybe he would run into Yuffie. He walked down the main hall and started looking at the pictures of the Wutaian rulers again. He wondered when one of Yuffie would be made. As he thought this, Vincent could see out of the corner of his eye a dark figure coming towards him. He turned and was almost face to face with a tall, dark skinned man with blue eyes and a bald head. He was wearing a business suit and dark green leather shoes.

"Hello," the man bowed to Vincent. "My name is Jiro."


	14. Love on the Rocks

**Chapter 14 - Love on the Rocks**

_Will someone please call a surgeon_

_Who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart_

_That you're deserting for better company?_

_I can't accept that it's over..._

_And I will block the door like a goalie tending the net_

_In the third quarter of a tied-game rivalry_

_So just say how to make it right_

_And I swear I'll do my best to comply_

_Tell me am I right to think that there could be nothing better_

_Than making you my bride and slowly growing old together_

_**I feel I must interject here you're getting carried away feeling sorry for yourself**_

_**With these revisions and gaps in history**_

_**So let me help you remember.**_

_**I've made charts and graphs that should finally make it clear.**_

_**I've prepared a lecture on why I have to leave**_

_**So please back away and let me go**_

_I can't my darling I love you so..._

_Tell me am I right to think that there could be nothing better_

_Than making you my bride and slowly growing old together_

_**Don't you feed me lines about some idealistic future**_

_**Your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures**_

_I know that I have made mistakes and I swear_

_I'll never wrong you again_

_**You've got a lure I can't deny,**_

_**But you've had your chance so say goodbye**_

_**Say goodbye**_

_The Postal Service - (Nothing Better)_

--

"It's an honor to meet you, Jiro," Vincent bowed in return.

"I must say that it is more of an honor to meet _you_, Mr. Valentine."

"Thank you, sir," Vincent was trying to read this man's face – he was finding it very hard to do. "What brings you back to visit your niece so soon?"

"Oh," Jiro shrugged, "just checking up on my only living relative."

"I see," Vincent was getting an idea on this man. "Making sure no one harms her, am I right?"

"Very much so," Jiro motioned for Vincent to stand next to him and walk. "A walk through the gardens?"

"Yes," Vincent walked next to Jiro – he turned and took one last look at the painting of Yuffie's mother, Yoshe, almost hopping she would speak and give him a clue on this guy.

"I hear from Yuffie that you are asking her to have children soon."

"Yes," Jiro coughed. "Her mother did not have her until much later in her rule and sadly, she was killed by a rogue ninja when Yuffie was only 7 years old."

"I know," Vincent sighed with sadness. Yuffie had told Vincent that she had witnessed the killing – a seven year old seeing her loving mother die, just horrible.

"So," Jiro continued. "You understand my worries for the bloodline continuing."

"Yes," Vincent said. "But Yuffie is a very capable ninja herself. She _did_ help save the whole Planet after all."

"Well," argued Jiro. "It's not just the threat of rouge ninjas and assassins, there is also the threat of becoming sick at a young age and the possibility of a…"

"I don't know," Vincent interupted, as they both walked outside and onto the balcony. "I spoke with Yuffie a few days ago and she said that she really didn't care to have children so soon, she wanted to fix Wutai first."

"Wutai does not need fixing," Jiro replied hastily. "Um…this place is booming with tourists! It could even become the next Golden Saucer…if only she would listen."

"She's the one who is ultimately in control," Vincent made clear. "I don't think she'll be motivated so easily."

"Yes," Jiro seemed irritated; he looked at his watch and peered behind his shoulder. "Well, I think I've lingered here long enough, say good-bye to Yuffie for me, Vincent."

"Of course," Vincent bowed to Jiro and he bowed back and left the balcony in a rush.

What a strange man, Vincent thought, leaning on the balcony. He's not even part of the royal family and he's concerned with Yuffie's ancestors and the bloodline…that doesn't make any sense. Vincent did not get a good vibe off of Yuffie's so-called uncle. "You know," he said aloud. "He's not even _blood_ related on her father's side." Something didn't seem right to Vincent.

As he was pondering over the strangeness of Yuffie's uncle, Vincent could hear sniffling coming from the cherry tree and rose gardens below. Vincent peered over the balcony's rim to see if he could locate the person who was crying…he couldn't see anyone. Unable to help whoever it was from where he was standing, Vincent decided to go to the garden.

When Vincent got there, he looked around the rose bushes to see if anyone was hiding in them; no one. He then made his way to the cherry trees and found Yuffie sitting on the bench that they had both been sitting on the other day.

"Yuffie," he said softly.

Yuffie turned her head with a start and began wiping her tears. "Oh," she said. "I didn't see you there, Vincent." She was still dressed in her traditional Wutaian outfit – her make-up was a bit smudged though.

"Are you okay?" he asked, coming up next to her.

"I'm fine," she said. "If you don't mind…I'd like to be alone."

"Yuffie," Vincent said. "We need to talk."

"About what?" she said innocently. Then, without another word, Yuffie stood from the bench and ran as fast as she could deeper into the garden.

"Yuffie, hey," Vincent started to follow her. "Come back!"

She didn't stop, she kept on running. Vincent tried in vain to have her slow down but nothing he said seemed to work. They ran on for a long time, past all of the cherry trees and to the edge of Yuffie's garden – to the fence, which she began to climb.

"Hey," Vincent called out, grabbing Yuffie's waist and trying to pull her down from the fence. "Would you just-ah!" Yuffie had punched him in the face. "Would you just listen to me!"

"I don't need to hear anything from you!" Yuffie cried out menacingly. With all of her royal garb on it was difficult for Yuffie to continue her climbing; eventually, she gave up and let Vincent bring her to the ground.

"Now," Vincent said. "Would you just relax and talk to me?"

"I…" Yuffie began to cry again. "I think you should leave, Vincent."

"Look," Vincent said, trying to be reasonable. "If it was any other time I would say 'okay,' but after what happened with us last night…"

"Oh God," she cried. "I hate this…I hate this…"

"Yuffie," he paused; he just wanted to say the right thing.

"Aki's been cheating on me," she sighed, tears rolling down her white caked cheeks.

"I…what?" Vincent asked.

"He's been cheating on me…" she fell to the ground and started to cry even harder.

Vincent kneeled down next to her, "How do you know?" he asked her.

"I just do…" she breathed in and choked on her sobs. "I…I just know it…God, I hate him so much."

"Yuffie," Vincent said. "It's going to be okay…"

"I want you to leave here, Vincent." Yuffie looked up at his face. "Please, just go away."

"Why," Vincent asked; but deep down, he knew why. "Yuffie, what happened last night…Yuffie I haven't felt this way in a long…I love you."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" she yelled. "I've loved you since the first day I met you…and you were such a dickhead then that you didn't even look twice at me! And why would you? I was a stupid brat! I know I was, but I'm not anymore and…and know it's too late. It's too late, Vincent!"

"Yuffie," Vincent went to put his hand on her arm but decided that that was a bad idea. "I know…I wasn't the best guy to be around then, but I'm different now, just like you are…Yuffie, tell me how I can make things right, please."

"I don't love you anymore…" Yuffie sobbed. "I don't…I just want you to leave."

"I think if we just talk it over," Vincent tried to say. "We can figure this out, Yuffie."

"God," she sighed. "I've prepared a lecture on why this can't be if you want to hear it!"

"Listen, I know I've made mistakes in the past but…"

"When Aki comes home," Yuffie interrupted. "I'm going to announce to him that I want to try to have children and I _will_ have children, Vincent, and Wutai…Wutai's been a lost cause for a long time and I've discovered that I can't do anything about it."

"Your uncle, Yuffie," this time Vincent touched her arm. "There's something up, I don't know what but it doesn't seem right."

"If you don't leave now," Yuffie pushed his hand off of her arm. "Then I will call my guards and throw you out."

"Please," Vincent pleaded.

"Get out!" Yuffie screamed and pointed towards the palace they had run so far away from. "Good-bye, Vincent Valentine."

--

"Tifa," Vincent's voice was weary. "I need to stay with you and Cloud, if that's okay."

--

The ride back to the Seventh Heaven was a haze to Vincent – he couldn't remember most of it and if you asked him to recall the trip now, he still would not know how it went. The only thing that he remembered was packing his clothes at lunch time and knocking on the Strife's door after dinner time.

Cloud was the one who answered the door – he had never seen Vincent so distraught, and he had seen Vincent during a lot of his worst days. Vincent's short hair was tangled and the dark circles under his eyes had returned. Cloud stood back in amazement at the sight of his friend. He didn't know what to say at first, "Hey Vincent," he managed. "You look…well."

"Thanks, Cloud." Vincent stepped into the Seventh Heaven and immediately went to the bar. "I need something…"

"Strong," Tifa finished his sentence. She was behind the counter putting away the clean dishes. "I'll get you something."

"Vince," Cloud began, sitting next to Vincent. "What happened?"

Vincent starred at the counter in thought. What _did _happen? It was all a blur now, Yuffie was an emotional wreck, he hadn't seen her act like that in a long time – no, something was really bothering her – something serious. Why would she change her decisions in just one night? And she was so compassionate to him the night before and the morning after. What could have happened to Yuffie during that time he wasn't with her? Was she afraid that he would leave her? Was she afraid they would be found out? Vincent wished that he could clear his mind so he could think straight.

"I honestly wish I knew," Vincent sighed.

"Yuffie is a hard one to dissect," Cloud said. Tifa got out a bottle of Vodka and handed small glasses of it to Vincent and Cloud.

"She's sad," Tifa chimed in, "she wants to do so many things and being a ruler of Wutai limits her."

"I don't think that's what's been bothering her though," Vincent said, taking a gulp of the Vodka. He squeezed his eyes together as he swallowed the alcohol; it was stronger than he thought. "There's something else up."

"What do you think, Vincent?" Cloud asked.

"Yuffie was talking to her uncle before I ran into her and everything I explained on the phone happened."

"Her _uncle_?" Cloud questioned. "I didn't know she had an uncle…"

"I think we met him at the wedding," Tifa recalled.

"His name is Jiro," Vincent confirmed. "He's her step-uncle actually, her grandfather's wife's child on Godo's side."

"Kind of distant," Cloud shrugged. "Don't you think?"

"So," Tifa said, she was trying to get at something in this discussion. "Has he been visiting her often?"

"Almost everyday since she's been married," Vincent said. "She meets with him about political stuff and her marriage."

"Yeah but he's not part of the royal family," Cloud mentioned. "In fact, he isn't _at all_!"

"That's right," Tifa said. "Not only is he not related to Yuffie's mother but he's not even blood related to Godo."

Vincent had already thought of that after he had met Jiro - why was Jiro suddenly apart of Yuffie's life now that she was married and the ruler of Wutai? He would have nothing to do with her marriage or Wutai because of his place in her family…so why? Why would Yuffie allow this?

"He _is_ her only living family member," Vincent confirmed.

"That has nothing to do with anything," Tifa complained. "Yuffie has a strong will; I know she could have handled it all on her own. You're right Vince, something isn't right."

--

_THE NEXT DAY_

"Dry your eyes my child," Jiro's voice seemed to slither out of his mouth like a snake. He handed a sobbing Yuffie Kisaragi a cloth from his pocket. They were in her throne room; only Yuffie was not sitting in her chair, she was on the floor with her knees to her chin.

"I don't want your fucking tissue," Yuffie sobbed as she pushed away Jiro's hand. She was again dressed in her royal garbs – though her make-up was beginning to look nonexistent.

"You did the right thing," Jiro said calmly, putting the cloth back in his pocket. "You saved that man's life along with the Strife children."

"You are a horrible man," Yuffie sobbed. "I can't believe I trusted you when you came to me and offered your help."

"I'm a bit surprised myself," Jiro sneered. "Well, now that Valentine is out of the way – its Aki's turn…"

"No!" Yuffie looked up at Jiro.

"We went through this with Valentine," Jiro wined. "If you don't do what I say, someone else's life will be threatened, how about that little dark-haired girl who was here at your joyous wedding! Marlene is her name, isn't it?"

"Oh God," Yuffie began to sob again. "Please, Jiro…"

"That's _Uncle_ Jiro," he corrected.

"You are _not _my uncle!" Yuffie screamed. "You are not my father's brother! I don't care what you say!"

"Let's move on than, shall we?" Jiro walked towards the windows of the throne room and looked outside. "I want you to _kill_ Aki."

"W…What?" Yuffie was shocked.

"Don't be so surprised," he said. "He won't even suspect it; he thinks I'm going to hire someone to kill _you _eventually."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Yuffie wiped her eyes as the white make-up was smudged all over her hands.

"I have been in contact with my cousin for quite sometime," Jiro smiled. "Yes, Aki Keno is my mother's sister's son – my cousin. These 'business' trips that he's been taking to the Golden Saucer for the past few weeks have been to see me and to get himself some action since you haven't been giving him any yourself."

Yuffie was in such a state of shock she didn't respond emotionally when she said – "That's how you knew he was cheating on me."

"Of course," he sighed at what he felt was her stupidity. "He thinks that I'm pressuring you into having a child because I want to make _you_ think that I want the bloodline to continue – that dope – why would I ever care about that? He should've known that you would never feel pressured by me!" Jiro laughed menacingly. "That is," he said, "unless I threaten you."

"This whole thing is twisted," Yuffie said with anger. "Let me get this straight, you used the excuse that you were related to Aki to make him go on your side – you then came to me and told me that you wanted me to have children because you cared about me and the bloodline – you then told Aki what you were telling me so he was up-to-date on what I was going through with you. And what is this about killing me?"

"I told Aki that when you announced that you were planning on having children, that would be the key time to hire an assassin to kill you and make him the official ruler of Wutai, and make it look like your death was due to the bloodline," said Jiro. "Now, you must kill him if you want to save your friends, my niece. As you now know, he was very willing to let me kill you!"

"Why do you want me to kill him?" Yuffie stood as she said this. "What are you planning?"

"Do you really think this is a good time to ask anymore questions?" Jiro stared angrily at Yuffie. "I have my phone on me now; I could easily call a couple of friends to take care of Valentine and the Strife family."

Yuffie walked towards Jiro, unafraid. "I think you're lying," she said with confidence. "I don't think you plan on hurting my friends – you're bluffing through and through."

"Oh, really?" Jiro was annoyingly offended.

"Yes," Yuffie glared at him. "I think you're a coward who uses threats to get his own way – I should have never chased Vincent off; you wouldn't have hurt him if I didn't. I _will not_ kill Aki."

Jiro starred at Yuffie for a long time – finally, he pulled out his cell phone and clicked a number that he used for speed dial. He turned it on speaker phone and as it was ringing. Yuffie didn't take her eyes off of Jiro as the other line was picked up by a mysterious man. "Yeah?" the man said.

"I want you to get four other men down to Midgar and raid the Seventh Heaven," Jiro said. Yuffie's mouth dropped open as she was about to scream – but Jiro shushed her. "I want you to kill the children, including the unborn child, and the one called Valentine. Severely injure the other adults."

"Right boss," the man said. "When do you want this to happen?"

"Midnight tonight," then Jiro hung up the phone.

"I…I…hate you," Yuffie didn't know what else to say – her rage was so large that there were no words to describe it. "How could you do this?"

"You didn't believe me, now you must pay the price," he started walking towards the door. "Aki will be back tonight – you have until midnight to kill him and save your friends." Jiro turned to Yuffie just as he was stepping out, gave her a menacing grin and then left.

Yuffie crumpled to the floor and began to cry uncontrollably. She was helpless, friendless, and broken hearted – there was nothing she could do.


	15. Saving Lives

**Chapter 15 - Saving Lives**

_A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I got serious writer's block plus I had some high-school friends over for the weekend so I had to entertain instead of write. Well, I finally got it up and I hope you enjoy it :D!! Love & Peace._

--

Vincent did not sleep well that night. He was back on the couch of the Seventh Heaven with the television on. There was some old cartoon on the TV that Vincent remembered watching as a kid almost 40 years ago. It was nostalgic, and he kept remembering his sister always changing the channel on him while he was watching it – he would get so mad at her that he would take off his shoes and throw them at her. She, of course, would tell their mother and they would both be grounded. One time though, she left her room and snuck into his. He was about to call out to their parents that she was breaking the rules but she instead came in and hugged him – he remembered being surprised by this action, but he hugged her back all the same. "What's wrong, Dalia?" he had asked her but she didn't say anything; after the mysterious hug, she had left his room.

Vincent sighed at the thought of his childhood. His turned his body towards the back of the couch and pressed his face against it. It smelled good, it smelled used and loved. He could remember when he had furniture that smelled like that and he missed it. For the next hour he tried to force himself to fall asleep but it felt impossible – he couldn't get his mind off of Yuffie. What was wrong with her and what was Jiro up to? He had the biggest urge to return to Wutai to help Yuffie figure out what was going on. Would she even want to see him though? He knew that there was only one thing to do – text her.

He turned over and reached into his backpack and pulled out his cell-phone. He then proceeded to find Yuffie's number in his contacts and write her a message. He sent the message and waited. Would she still be up to receive it? The thought of her ignoring it was almost unbearable. "Huh," he said aloud. "That's _exactly_ what I did to her for all those years." He rolled onto his stomach and shoved his face into his pillow. This was going to be a long night.

--

"Do you think Kisaragi will kill your cousin?" The strange man on the other line of the cell phone was now standing with Jiro in a dark room that resembled an interrogation space. The man was young and fit, with blonde hair and a small beard. He wore all black and was sitting on a stool with a knife in his hand. The strange man was looking over his knife carefully – as if looking for damages. Jiro studied the strange, blonde man and answered him.

"I don't know," Jiro admitted. "I first met Yuffie when she was very young – and even then she was a determined little bitch." Jiro sighed and leaned up against the wall. "Anything could happen," he said. "She could do it with no problem or she could not; either way she loses."

"Let's say she follows through, how do you think she'll kill him and what will you do to her after?" the blonde man asked.

"I lingered a bit longer before I left the palace," Jiro explained. "Yuffie cleaned herself up and began hiding away her daggers in her room. She plans to make his death a bit violent it seems. As for her fate, I will simply blame Aki's death on her. It wouldn't be lying, you know."

"What if she speaks about what you've done?"

"I'll deny it," Jiro explained. "I am a wealthy businessman and she's a spoiled little girl who witnessed not only her mother's death but the death of her very good friend from when they were fighting Sephiroth. On top of that, she was forced to marry a man who undoubtedly began cheating on her not long after the marriage."

"Do you plan on taking the throne after she is convicted?" the blonde man put his knife in his black belt.

"Yes," he said. "I already stole Aki's father's company – why not steal my step-niece's throne?" Jiro laughed menacingly. "Get your men ready for tomorrow…just in case."

--

"Mr. Valentine?" Denzel Strife was tapping Vincent's shoulder. "My mom says that you should get up now."

Vincent opened his eyes with a start – he then closed them again and yawned. "What time is it?" he asked Denzel.

"Its 2:00pm," Denzel said, walking away; he seemed annoyed. "The vacuum is in the closet."

"Vacuum?" Vincent questioned. He got out of bed and got dressed. As he was folding the sheets on the couch he heard a loud _bang_ in the kitchen. Vincent looked up from his work and peered into the kitchen. Tifa was frantically running around and picking up a mess on the ground. Alan was giggling and speaking in strange tongues with some understandable English coming through and running around her.

"Oh please, Alan," Tifa pleaded. "I have customers here, baby!" Tifa stood from the mess and held her stomach like it was upset. At this sight, Vincent ran into the kitchen and swooped up Alan.

"Hey, big guy!" Vincent said and Alan giggled some more. "You're mom is busy today, you better not get into anymore trouble."

Tifa smiled at the sight of her son with Vincent – even though Vincent was going through some hard times again, he seemed a lot better than what he was a couple of years ago when things were worse. She was proud of him for being a happier person. "You're finally up," Tifa smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

Vincent put Alan under his arm and the little boy screamed with delight. "Not at all actually," he admitted.

"Oh," Tifa was saddened, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Vincent said, smiling. "It's rough right now but...well, you know all about the healing."

"Yeah," Tifa couldn't lie. "I definitely know about the healing."

Vincent sighed and twirled Alan around. Tifa laughed as her son's laughter echoed in the kitchen. She laughed so much that her daughter began to get restless and kick. Tifa leaned against one of the chairs in the kitchen and tried to relax her excited daughter. Vincent set Alan down and put his hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Vincent asked.

Tifa breathed in and out heavily. "Yeah," she said, in between her breaths. "I'm fine."

"_Hey!_" a man's voice came from the bar. "_Where's my sandwich?_"

"Hold up!" Tifa yelled back. "I'm fine now, Vincent – could you take care of Alan for me? Denzel's been emo in his room all day and has been refusing to watch him."

"Of course," Vincent said. Denzel was a good kid but Vincent understood that he was upset about the new baby and the baby that was already present. Still, he was 14 now; he should've been helping his mother.

"Oh, and if you could vacuum the living room that would be great too," Tifa smiled and walked off into the bar.

--

Vincent hadn't vacuumed since he didn't know when. He actually kind of enjoyed it and so did Alan. As Vincent brought the vacuum back and forth across the floor, Alan would laugh and try to kick it. Vincent tried to tell him to stop but that didn't seem to work – he was a stubborn little boy.

"You're a lot like your mom," he sighed.

"Mommy!" Alan screamed and then laughed.

Vincent laughed as well. "You don't say much," he said. "But when you do it's pretty cute. Are you excited about your baby sister?"

"Yes, yes," Alan said to himself – acting like he wasn't really listening.

"That's good," Vincent said. "How has Denzel been?" Alan just shrugged his shoulders and kept kicking the vacuum. "Okay," Vincent continued. "I guess that ends that conversation."

--

"I'm home!" Cloud came in through the back door that went into the living room. It was 5:00pm and Vincent – who was watching a children's movie with Alan on the couch was happy to see another adult human being.

"Hey," Vincent said. "You're home early?"

Cloud laughed. "You sound like Tifa…Hey buddy!" Cloud walked over to Alan and picked him up and put him on his shoulders. "Was he good?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"Yeah," Vincent said. "He was very good."

"How was Tifa today?" Cloud asked, taking Alan with him to the kitchen with him. "Was she okay?"

At that moment Tifa came from out of the kitchen and ran into Cloud. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hey honey," she kissed him gently and wiped her eyes. Vincent looked harder at her face – she had been crying.

"Teef," Cloud said, wiping her cheeks of the tear trails. "What's wrong?"

"You need to talk to Denzel," she said with a slight hiccup. "He's been avoiding me all day and acting awful."

"What has he been saying?" Cloud asked.

Tifa sobbed as she spoke. "He keeps yelling about how he's not really our son and that we're young enough to be his older siblings and not his parents and how these babies are all we care about and…"

"Okay," Cloud said, turning around and handing Alan to Vincent. "I'll talk to him, God…what is wrong with that kid?"

"Cloud," Tifa said sternly. "Be nice to him, okay?"

"Yeah," Cloud said simply, walking away.

--

It had been an hour since Cloud had gone up to talk to Denzel. Alan, Vincent, and Tifa sat around the kitchen table and ate grilled cheese with skim milk. They waited silently for Cloud and Denzel to come downstairs and ask for some as well – they never did.

"I don't know what's gotten into him," Tifa sighed. "But he _is_ a teen boy I guess, I remember when Cloud was like that."

"I remember when _I_ was like that," Vincent took a bite of his grilled cheese.

Tifa sighed and drank some of her milk. "I might go to bed early tonight."

"You should," Vincent said with enthusiasm. "You'll feel better."

"Yeah," she said. "I'm _really_ glad you're here, Vincent."

"I'm glad to be here too," Vincent leaned across the table and touched her shoulder.

"It's just been really hard lately," Tifa said. "We've been having money problems, kid problems, and…well…friend problems."

"Yuffie?" Vincent asked, even though he knew he was right. "I'm sorry I've brought more misery on you guys with everything that's been going on with Yuffie and me."

"No," Tifa said right away. "It does not…please…" she began to cry again. "Ug, being pregnant is making me so hormonal."

"Its okay, Tifa," Vincent tried to comfort her. Tifa nodded and finished up her food.

"Alan and I are going to go to bed," she said, standing and picking up her son. "If any of my other men comes downstairs let them know where I am, okay?"

"Of course," Vincent said.

--

Around 9:00pm that night, Vincent heard someone walking down the stairs. He was lying on the couch he had become so attached to in the living room, reading an old martial arts book that was Tifa's. He pried his eyes away from the book and looked over the couch to see who it was. It was Cloud. He was dressed in his black pajama pants with a white beater on top. His spiky blonde hair was even more messed up after sleeping for a little bit. Vincent set the book down and got off the couch. He met Cloud in the kitchen as he was pouring himself a glass of water.

"Hey," Cloud addressed Vincent as his dark haired friend walked into the room. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I'm just not tired," Vincent confirmed.

"Yeah, me neither – I'm used to getting home at the time."

"Do you usually come home this late?"

"Since we found out Tifa was pregnant again, yeah." Cloud walked into the bar and sat at one of the tables in there.

Vincent followed him at sat in the chair across from him. "I remember this place when it was open late."

"Me too," Cloud took a sip of his water. "Tifa will have it up and running again in a few years."

"That's good; she's always loved this place." Vincent ran his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, but she's willing to let it slip to have kids – _that's_ what she's always wanted."

"Is Denzel okay?" Vincent asked.

"He's fine," Cloud sighed. "He's just a lot like me."

"I see," Vincent smiled at his friend.

"Are _you_ okay, Vince?" Cloud asked. "How has it been for you today?"

"I'm all right," Vincent lied. He was…just…heartbroken. He had tried not to think of Yuffie at all that day – not much of a success. First he couldn't sleep that night – now he couldn't handle getting through the day. So, he lied about being fine, it wasn't that hard to do. He was sick of bringing other people down with his sadness. Faking his happiness was the only way to make others around him better-off.

"I'm glad you're all right," Cloud finished up his water. "Yuffie's great and all but she's just not meant for you."

"I guess not," Vincent sighed.

"Well," Cloud said, standing up. "I'm going to try and get some sleep – you should do the same."

"Yes, I'll try," Vincent stood and went back into the living room. He plopped onto the couch with a loud thump and placed his head on the back. His chest was aching and his eyes were watering – God, when was the pain going to stop? But Vincent remembered something very important that he had forgotten with Lucrecia: if you're not satisfied, the pain _never_ stops.

--

"I'm home my sweet!" Aki came tumbling through the door of the palace that very same night. "I've missed you so much my delicate butterfly!"

"I've missed you too, lover," Yuffie sighed. Her voice was shaky and Aki seemed to notice it when he came up and pecked her on the lips.

"My dear!" he said. "What's wrong?"

"I…" Don't cry, don't cry. "I've just missed you so much," she lied.

"Well," he said, kissing her forehead. "I've missed you too."

"Would you like to…um…go to bed now?" Yuffie caressed the side of Aki's face.

"I still have to unpack – and I've bought you something…"

"Tomorrow," Yuffie said. "I'm tired and…I want to be with you."

"If you insist my love," Aki sighed. Yuffie took his hand and brought him to the bedroom. She tried very hard to smile all the way…it was nearly impossible.

--

"Standing by," the strange blonde man said into his walkie-talkie. He and four other men were waiting outside the Seventh Heaven. It was 11:30pm, and still no word from Jiro that Lady Yuffie had killed her husband. The men were starting to get worried. Would she pull through?

--

Yuffie lay wide awake in her bed and Aki was fast asleep next to her – snoring like an old man with nasal problems. She knew what she had to do…she had to kill Aki. "Vincent," she whispered out loud. Not only was Vincent's life in danger, but Tifa's, Cloud's, Alan's, and Denzel's life. Oh God, she knew she had to do something. The men were right outside of the Seventh Heaven – they had to have been. Could she call one of them? Would her uncle see; would he know? Yuffie turned onto her side and looked at Aki's face. She hated him, she really did and she believed her uncle about Aki agreeing to have her killed. But she still did not want to take his life. Something was up and she was too blind to see what it was. Did I honestly think that Jiro was going to keep _me_ alive after this? Yuffie thought over and over about the situation until she began to sob. "Please," she prayed. "Mama, help me…I don't want anyone to die." Yuffie wiped her tears and looked over Aki's head to see the time on the clock. It was 11:45pm – she had less than fifteen minutes to make a decision…

--

Vincent was still awake on the couch when his phone began to vibrate. "That's weird," he said aloud.

--

Yuffie stood from her bed and walked silently over to her drawer – she had put her mother's dagger in with her underwear. She looked over the blade carefully before walking towards her husband with it in her hand.

--

Vincent got up from the couch and reached for his phone – he looked to see who was calling him…he could not believe his eyes when he saw who it was.

--

Yuffie stood above Aki with the dagger – she would first stab him through the temple then through the heart. Oh God, the mess…what would she do about the mess? No, she would have to think of that after…

--

"Hello?" Vincent asked – even though he clearly knew who it was.

"Vincent!" Yuffie's voice was hysterical. "I…I couldn't do it! They're coming to…THEY'RE GOING TO KILL YOU!"


	16. Those Who Fight

_A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this one. I hope you like it! Cheers!_

--

**Chapter 16 - Those Who Fight  
**

Vincent was stunned by Yuffie's hysterics – nevertheless, he remained calm.

"Yuffie," he said in a firm tone. "What are you talking about?"

"I can't explain," Yuffie said in a hurried whisper. She was in her private lavatory in her bedroom, sitting under the sink on the floor – salty tears stained her olive face. "I honestly can't – all I have time to tell you is that there are at least five men outside of the Seventh Heaven ready and willing to kill _all of you_."

"Yuffie," Vincent tried to keep her on the phone so that he could get more answers but it was no use.

"I have to save Aki," Yuffie said. "Please be careful." She hung up her cell phone and stood in her bathroom. As she was about to leave, her cell phone made a bleeping noise, reminding her that she had a text message – she ignored it and attempted to awaken Aki.

--

Vincent hung up his phone after the call had ended. "Damn it," he whispered. What had Yuffie been talking about? Vincent quickly tried to piece the puzzle together as he reached into his other backpack and pulled out Death Penalty. He loaded his trusty weapon and made his way up the stairs to Cloud and Tifa's room.

He reached the room in no time flat – at first he hesitated to knock, for what reason he did not know. Even _if_ something wasn't right with what Yuffie had told him – he knew that she would never put Cloud and Tifa's children in danger intentionally. This was serious and he had to take immediate action. He knocked on the couple's door and waited. No answer.

"Cloud," Vincent called out. He knocked even harder on the door. "Cloud you need to open this door now!"

It was in no time that a sleepy looking Cloud opened his bedroom door. "What's up Vince?" He said groggily, rubbing his blue eyes awake. "I just got to sleep…why do you have Death Penalty?"

"Look," Vincent began in a speech that was a little louder than a whisper. "Yuffie just called my phone and told me that there are at least five men outside of this place and they are here to kill us."

"What," Cloud was shocked. "What do you mean?"

"Tifa needs to get the boys to a safe place while you and I take these guys out." Vincent locked Death Penalty as he spoke.

"Yeah," Cloud said dumbly. He walked back into his room to get Broadsword while Vincent held the door and waited. Vincent looked into Cloud's room and scanned it carefully – Tifa was still asleep in their double bed and the moon was shining through the window and…Oh my God….

At that precise moment Vincent saw the figure of a man race pass the window on the fire escape. Without hesitation he darted towards the window and broke threw it with a loud smash. He landed on the fire escape and on his side and looked up to see if the man was still there. He was – so Vincent shot at him with his gun. The strange man, who was dressed in all black, dodged the bullets and ran on top of the roof. "There's one out here!" Vincent yelled to Cloud in through the broken window. "I'm taking him!"

--

Cloud turned to Tifa, who was finally awake from the crashing window but still in bed. "Teef," he said. "Get Alan and Denzel to the wine cellar as quickly as you can!"

Tifa nodded as both her and her husband left the room in a rush. Cloud went downstairs towards to bar while Tifa went across the way and opened Denzel's door. "Denzel!" she cried. Her teenage son was already awake and looking outside his window.

"Mom," he said nervously. "There are some guys outside…"

"We need to get your brother and head downstairs quickly!" she interrupted.

--

Vincent was still trying to trail the guy on the roof. The man had been wearing black so he was hard to locate – especially now that the moon was covered with clouds. The man was fast too, very fast – but that wasn't going to stop Vincent, for he was speedy too. Vincent took a couple of shots in the dark so that whatever the bullets hit the sparks would give off a small light so that he could see the man in front of him. The sparks worked and Vincent saw that the man was only a few feet away. He dashed towards the general area when another shot was fired – only this one wasn't from Vincent. The man he had been chasing had a gun as well. "Great," Vincent muttered to himself sarcastically. He had to get rid of this guy fast so he could move on to the next one. It was going to be hard if they both had a gun and were in the dark. It wasn't long before Vincent heard someone come up behind him. He tried to turn and see who it was but was too late. The man he had been chasing grabbed Vincent's neck and tried to choke him. Vincent would have none of that. He shot his towards the mysterious man's head in hopes of him letting go – he did and Vincent ran towards the middle of the roof. Vincent fired another shot towards the man as he hid behind the chimney on the Seventh Heaven. The man must not have known that Vincent was hiding behind it because he came closer to it without any thought. "Jackass," Vincent grumbled, and stood up from behind the chimney. The strange man seemed to freeze for a few seconds before he realized what had just happened. Before the man could fire his gun Vincent shot him right between the eyes. "There," he said. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."

--

After parting with Tifa, Cloud ran to the bar in search of the other men. He found one guy in the kitchen wrathfully looking under the tables and in the bottom cabinets – no doubt searching for any children who might have hidden away. Cloud became furious at the thought of these men hurting his family and raced towards him in a fiery rage. The strange man noticed Cloud and dodged his blade attack by jumping over the spiky blonde father. Cloud turned around and saw that this man was a ninja. He brought out his ninja stars and threw them at cloud with no hesitation. Cloud blocked the stars with his sword and repelled them back at the man. The man was quick to dodge all of the stars and decided to try a different approach. He pulled out a thin sword from behind his back – this one was similar to Sephiroth's, Cloud noticed, only it wasn't as well crafted. Cloud made the first move towards the ninja and struck near his face – the ninja was ready and blocked the move. Cloud tried again in the same place and the ninja blocked once again. Cloud continued this maneuver over and over until the ninja became tired and tried to liven up the fight. He would try to strike Cloud in other places but Cloud continued to try and get the man in the face. It wasn't that long before the ninja's sword started to break. "My sword was made to defeat Sephiroth," he commented. "And you're no One-Winged Angel." When the small sword finally did break, Cloud took his weapon and sliced the ninja in half. When the man's crumpled shell fell to the floor, Cloud made his way back upstairs to see if there were any other intruders.

--

Tifa lead the boys down to the cellar – Denzel held a crying Alan in his arms as he followed his mother. "He won't be quiet," Denzel said with worry. Tifa grabbed her son away from Denzel and hid behind the wine rack. Denzel was so worried that he held his mother's arm – he was going to give her his strength and realization that everything was going to be all right.

"Baby," she whispered to the crying Alan. "You need to be quiet…shhhh." It was no use; she knew that if her son did not stop crying than they would find her. "Alan, sweetie, do you want some candy? Mommy will give you candy if you…"

"Well," said a slippery voice. "Looky what we have here." A tall man dressed in black came down the stairs carrying a machine gun. He lifted the machine gun ready to aim when Tifa knocked over the wine rack making it shatter across the stairs the man was standing on. Tifa handed Alan to Denzel, "Take him and hide in the corner," she said quietly. Denzel took Alan and nodded – Tifa walked over to where the man had been standing on the stairs and prepared herself. The man had conveniently dropped his machine gun in the crash and was cursing to himself as he looked for it in the dark cellar. She approached him and although she was very pregnant – she was willing to save her sons' lives with a few moves she had been dying to get out of her system. The man laughed at the sight of her.

"What the hell," he said. "You're gonna fight me?"

Tifa held her fighting position, waiting for the man's first move. The man laughed and jumped down the stairs. "This will be easy," he remarked as he swung a kick to Tifa's head. She had seen that move too often and blocked it with her wrist. The man was surprised that a pregnant woman was able to block his attacks and tried a little harder. He aimed for her face and then for her legs – which Tifa dodged with no problem and took her wrist and thrust it up his nose. The man's nose began to bleed ferociously and he started to have a spasm. Denzel cheered Tifa on as she began to punch that man in the face with her wrists and fists. After many hard punches and serious dodges, the man finally fell lifeless on the floor…Tifa had finished him.

"You go mom!" Denzel cheered, and even though the danger was gone Alan was still crying.

Tifa turned and saw her two boys, alive and safe, behind her. She smiled with utter happiness and waved at them – but something happened that she didn't expect, at least, not now. Tifa cringed at the feeling of her water breaking – she was having her baby girl.

"Mom?" Denzel questioned.

"Denzel," Tifa exclaimed. "WHERE'S CLOUD!"

--

Cloud met Vincent in his bedroom; the two men compared their stats and discovered that there were three more men somewhere else in the house. They traveled together back down to the bar and scanned the area before hearing agonizing cries from the basement.

"O God," Cloud had the most terrified look on his face. Vincent could only imagine what _his_ face looked like when he had heard that Lucrecia was sick and dyeing – it must have been the same.

"Let's go," Vincent said.

--

When they made it to the basement, they found a corpse with blood all over it's face, a crying Alan on the floor, a sobbing Denzel holding his mother - a pregnant Tifa...who wasn't going to pregnant any longer.

"Cloud," Vincent said with calmness. "Take Tifa and your kids to the hospital – I'll handle any of the other men that are left."

"Right," Cloud said, stepping up. "Teef?"

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. "I need to…"

"It's okay," Cloud lifted Tifa off the ground and carried her up the stairs. "You'll be okay…I love you, Tifa…"

"SHUT UP AND GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL!" she screamed. Denzel picked up Alan and followed his dad to the motorcycles – as they passed Vincent, Denzel smiled at him.

"We'll be back soon, Mr. Valentine," Denzel said.

"Don't worry about it," Vincent replied. "I'll be there to meet you as soon as I can."

Denzel nodded at this and continued walking after his parents. Vincent watched as the family left – Cloud and Tifa on a motorcycle and Denzel and Alan on a smaller one driving after them. After they were safely away from the Seventh Heaven, Vincent continued to explore. He had looked all over and it seemed like the other men were gone; escaped. This was bad, Vincent thought. They would tell whoever had sent them that the victims had survived…uh oh.

After a careful look over the house, Vincent packed few things, texted everyone on the AVALANCHE contact list that Tifa was having her baby and took Cloud's Chocobo, Sora, and rode it to the hospital.


	17. It's So Good to Know You

**Chapter 17 - It's So Good to Know You**

_I'm not gonna to patronize ya  
But trying to write down why I like ya  
It doesn't make it any better  
To just steal kind words off Phil Spector  
And I know all these tired clichés  
But I don't know which cliché to say  
Because clichés don't have any impact  
So I guess I will be matter-of-fact_

_'Cause...It's so good to know ya  
I just don't know how to show ya_

_I love you, you know that  
Don't you?  
I love you_

_I'm so sorry that I'm losing  
When other boys would leave you swooning  
When I finally get my words together  
I choke and they are gone forever  
But words are words and they mean nothing  
Surely "I love you" counts for something!  
So let's be hasty, and let's be reckless  
Just being with you leaves me breathless_

_'Cause...It's so good to know ya  
I just don't know how to show ya_

_I love you, you know that  
don't you?  
I love you _

_The Ordinary Boys – (I Luv U)_

--

"Well?" Jiro said, when he answered his phone. "Did you kill them?"

"Sir," The blonde man said on the other line in a panic. "They must have heard one of my men! They knew we were coming – three of my men are dead, sir!"

"What?" Jiro asked. That's impossible, he thought. Unless… Jiro hung up his cell phone and walked into Yuffie's room. He had been waiting in the throne room for Yuffie to tell him that she had killed Aki, when she didn't arrive – he assumed that she had not done her work. When he went into Yuffie's room he found that a few of her things were packed and the luggage that was Aki's was gone as well. He searched throughout the whole room – there was no one…not anyone.

--

"Aki," Yuffie said, out of breath. "Are you sure you're going to be all right?" She and Aki had run very far through town, the woods and to the landing dock where Vincent had been dropped off over a week ago.

"Yes," Aki said – his fake 'sweet' sounding accent gone. "I'm sure…I…I don't know how to thank you my Lady."

"Oh Please," Yuffie said, annoyed. "You were going to have me _killed_!"

"Well," Aki said, a little embarrassed. "That was before and this is now! I'm ever so grateful that you're my wife."

"Save it," Yuffie replied. She turned her head a made a gagging motion. "Now, get on the first Airship that comes and get as far away from here as possible. You might also want to change your name and look."

"Same to you," Aki said. "I'll…um…goodbye my Lady." His kissed Yuffie's hand as they approached the dock.

"Goodbye Aki," Yuffie said, forcing a smile. "It's been…_interesting_."

"It certainly has," Aki said. "Will I ever see you again?"

"If this blows over and we both survive," Yuffie commented. "Than I'm sure we will."

At this, Yuffie ran off in the other direction of the Airship dock – she didn't quite know where she was going, she only knew that she had to get away, cut her hair, and do something to make her safe for the time being. It was at that moment that her cell phone buzzed again. Yuffie paused with fright. What if it was Jiro texting her? She knew she had to look at it but she was afraid. She reached into her robes and looked to see who had texted her. She had two messages…both were from Vincent.

--

As Vincent was riding Cloud's Chocobo to the Midgar Family Hospital, it started to rain. He tried to take his mind off of it – it was only a little bit of rain – but Sora was old for a Chocobo, and didn't run very fast, so Vincent was getting very wet. He had remembered when Barrett bought Sora for Cloud as a joke but Cloud ended up loving the thing. Sora was bright yellow and straight from the wild. He was a full grown Chocobo when Barrett brought him to Midgar hence why the Chocobo was so old now. It was then, in the rain and on an aged overgrown bird that Vincent figured he should invest in his own transport.

When he reached the hospital, he tied Sora up under the Chocobo tent and walked inside. He didn't realize how soaked he was until he walked through the doors into the dramatically pale waiting room. The woman at the front desk gave him a dirty look so Vincent decided that she was the perfect person to bother with his questions.

"Excuse me," he said in the kindest tone possible. "I'm here to inquire about Tifa Strife. Is she…?"

"Oh yes," the woman said. "She just checked in with her husband and children – she is in birthing room 34 right now and everyone else is in the waiting room upstairs."

"Is she all right?" Vincent asked. But Vincent was interrupted by loud obnoxious laughter.

"Vincent, buddy!" It was Barrett coming through the front door – he was with Marlene and Shera.

"Hello," Vincent replied, turning from the woman.

"Thanks for the text message! Spike would have never gotten a hold of us himself!"

"Of course," Vincent said as Marlene came up and hugged him hello.

"Cid feels bad that he couldn't make it," Shera pointed out. "He's been working a lot on a new rocket and it was a crucial night tonight for testing."

"Understandable," Vincent answered.

"So," Barrett said heartily. "Where's the brat?"

A sudden urge of hate and humility came over Vincent. "Yuffie," the gunman corrected him. "Her name is Yuffie."

"Right, right," Barrett said, waving his hand carelessly. "So, where is she?"

"I," Vincent didn't know where she was. She had warned him about the intruders and then she said that she had to save Aki – that was all he got from her. Save Aki from what? From other assassins maybe? She could be anywhere and he prayed that she wasn't in danger. "I must tell you that the Seventh Heaven was attacked just moments ago."

"What?!" Shera said, placing her hand over her mouth.

"What are you talking about, Vince?" Barrett said in a threatening tone. "What do you mean the Seventh Heaven was attacked?"

"Five guys ambushed the bar for reasons unknown; they wanted to kill us – even the children." Vincent told his friends about how Yuffie had called him and how after the fight two of the five men got away.

"Well, we've got to find those bastards!" Barrett said loudly. The receptionist at the front desk put her index finger up to her mouth and shushed him. "Sorry lady," Barrett said, now trying to whisper. "What do you propose we do, Vince?"

"The only thing we can do now is stay here and be ready to protect Tifa and her kids if the time comes," Vincent said. "That might be the smartest deal. I don't think the police should be involved – not now at least."

The quad went upstairs to the waiting room next to where Tifa was. They waited there – they waited for news on how she was doing. Denzel and Alan were already there playing with the blocks that were available for young children. It would be quite a few hours before the doctor came out to visit them all.

"How is she?" Vincent asked right away, standing up from his chair.

"She is doing very well," the doctor said. "She's very healthy as well as her baby girl."

"All right! A sweet, little Spikella in the house!" Barrett exclaimed out loud.

"When can I see my Mom?" Denzel asked the doctor.

"Very soon," the doctor told him. "We're cleaning her and your sister up and they'll both be ready to see shortly."

--

About 2 hours later, Denzel and Alan (Marlene followed) went into Tifa's room for hugs and kisses. Soon after that the nurse brought in the new baby girl and put her into Tifa's arms. Through the glass that looked into Tifa's room Barrett, Shera, and Vincent stood. Vincent paid close attention to Tifa handling her new daughter. She was so gentle with her and so peaceful. It was amazing to think that she had just gone through a horrific experience, thinking that her children would die – now a new and refreshing life lay ahead for all of the Strife family. The nurse beckoned for more people to come in if they wanted and Barrett and Shera went right away. "Coming Vince?" Barrett asked. Vincent shook his head.

"No my friend," he said. "I will go later."

As the whole strife family including Shera, Marlene and Barrett, were in the room admiring Tifa and the new baby and discussing the fight at the Seventh Heaven, Vincent continued to watch them all chit-chatting through the window.

"Excuse me sir?" said a small voice. Vincent turned to see who was speaking to him. A young woman with a pixie haircut and black robes approached him. It didn't take Vincent long to realize that the woman was Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Yuffie?" he questioned.

"Ha!" she exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd recognize me." She smiled at the sight of Vincent's stunned face, pointed to her hair. "So, do you like it?"

"I…" Vincent began.

"Of course I'd understand if you didn't like it! I mean, it's very boyish – even for me…"

"Yuffie," Vincent interrupted, smiling as he spoke. "I think it looks great."

"You do?" Yuffie asked honestly. "I was hoping you'd like it."

"Yuffie," Vincent felt that he needed to ask her right away, "_What's going on_?"

"Ah," Yuffie rubbed the back of her head. "It's a long story…"

"I've got time," Vincent said, crossing his arms.

"Right," Yuffie said. "Well…" she told Vincent everything about Jiro and his menacing plans. She explained her part in the plan and how she had chosen to help everyone survive. She discussed Aki's part and how he was now safe (wherever he was) and how she was currently in danger of being killed by her uncle for screwing everything up.

"His plan was to kill me after I killed Aki anyway," Yuffie said with sadness in her voice. "It was only a matter of time."

"I can't believe this," Vincent said, outraged. "I knew there was something wrong with this whole thing."

"Yes," Yuffie said. "Well, I'm glad you are all safe."

"All thanks to you," Vincent agreed. He put his hand on her shoulder. Yuffie grabbed Vincent's hand and kissed it. She then dropped his hand and looked up at him with such grief.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"For what?" Vincent asked, but he knew perfectly well what for.

"For…everything that I said to you," she sighed. "I didn't mean any of it."

"Its okay, Yuffie," Vincent made clear. "You think we're not meant to be…I understand that."

Yuffie sighed again – they both watched as their friends in Tifa's room each took turns holding the new baby. It was at this sight that Yuffie spoke again.

"I got your text," she said, still looking into the room.

"I can see that," Vincent said plainly; he didn't turn to look at her.

"Not the one about Tifa," Yuffie said, "The one before that."

Then Vincent remembered the one she was talking about. It was the text that he sent her the night before – when he couldn't sleep. "You," he began, as he turned to look at her. "You got it?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'm sorry I didn't get it sooner."

"No," he said hastily. "No, it's okay…"

"It was beautiful," she said softly.

"It was just a text…" Vincent said, blushing slightly.

"You're funny," Yuffie said, finally looking back at him. "It was a _beautiful_ text…and…It's so good to know you _too_, Vincent."

"Thanks," Vincent said. There was a pause as he looked into Tifa's room for a quick second and then he turned to Yuffie again. "I meant _everything_ I wrote…you know that…don't you?" Yuffie nodded as a response to that question. There was another slight pause as they both peered back into the room. "What are you going to do now?" he ended up finally asking.

"I don't know," she said. "I might just hang low for awhile…you know…"

"How long do you plan on 'hanging low'?" Vincent asked.

"I'm playing this by ear Vinnie Boy," she said rolling her eyes. "That's all I can do."

At that moment everyone except for Cloud, Tifa and the new baby came from the room. Shera was holding a sleeping Alan in her arms and Barrett had his arm around Denzel. "This kid's coming with me!" Barrett said slapping Denzel's shoulder. "And Spike Jr. is going with Mrs. Highwind."

"Sounds good," Vincent said.

"Hey," Shera exclaimed, noticing Yuffie standing next to Vincent. "Yuffie, you finally got here!"

"What!?" Barrett shouted. "Yo brat! Where did all your hair go?"

"I missed you too, Barrett," Yuffie sighed sarcastically.

"You guys better get in there and say 'hello' before Tifa gets to bed – she's awfully tired you know," Shera pointed out.

Vincent pulled out his cell phone to see what time it was – it was almost 6 in the morning. "She should have gone to sleep a long time ago," Vincent said.

"Well, you know Tifa, she's a fighter," Shera sighed. "Even when she forces herself to stay awake."

--

After the others had left, Vincent and Yuffie walked into Tifa's room. Cloud was already fast asleep on the chair that was across from her bed but Tifa was somewhat awake with her baby in her arms. "Hi guys," she said softly. "I'm glad you're here, Yuffie."

"I try," Yuffie grinned and sat on the bed next to Tifa. "She's so cute, Tifa! She has blonde hair like Cloud!"

"What's her name?" Vincent asked. He knew that she and Cloud had already picked it out – she had mentioned that when he first saw her.

"Her name," Tifa said with pride, "Is Stella Ann Strife."

"Stella!" Yuffie said with great happiness. "That's so pretty! I love it."

"It's beautiful," Vincent said sincerely.

"Do you want to hold her?" Tifa asked Vincent.

"Uh…" Vincent tried to say 'no' but Yuffie wouldn't allow it.

"Oh come on Vinnie!" Yuffie said. "Hold little Stella!"

Stella had been sleeping soundly and Vincent explained that he was afraid to awaken her. "She's a good girl," Tifa explained, handing her daughter to Vincent. "Don't worry."

Vincent held the little baby in his arms. She was such a gorgeous creature – so small and pink, with a tuff of blonde hair sitting on her head. He wondered what kind of kid she'd be. Would she be mischievous like Alan, or a good little princess? He liked thinking about Stella's future. It was exciting and comforting for him at the same time. Vincent looked up to see Tifa's reaction but she was lying down on her pillow, fast asleep. He then looked up at Yuffie, who was staring right at him. She smiled and spoke, "You look good with babies, Vincent."

"Really?" he asked, blushing.

"Really," Yuffie replied. "Now, let's let these guys sleep and blow this Popsicle stand."

Vincent smiled. "Okay," he said. "I know where we can go where you'll be safe."

--

_A/N: The song in the beginning is what Vincent wrote in the text…or something like it :D I hope you liked this chapter!!_


	18. For This Moment

**Chapter 18 - For This Moment **

_Kiss me too fiercely  
Hold me too tight  
I need help believing  
You're with me tonight  
My wildest dreaming  
Could not foresee  
Lying beside you  
With you wanting me_

_And just for this moment  
As long as you're mine  
I've lost all resistance  
And crossed some border line  
And if it turns out  
It's over too fast  
I'll make every last moment last  
As long as you're mine_

_Maybe I'm brainless  
Maybe I'm wise  
But you've got me seeing  
Through different eyes  
Somehow I've fallen  
Under your spell  
And somehow I'm feeling  
It's up that I fell_

_Every moment  
As long as you're mine  
I'll wake up my body  
And make up for lost time  
Say there's no future  
For us as a pair_

_And though I may know  
I don't care  
Just for this moment  
As long as you're mine  
Come be how you want to  
And see how bright we shine  
Borrow the moonlight  
Until it is through  
And know I'll be here holding you  
As long as you're mine_

_Wicked – (As Long As You're Mine)_

--

The nurse came and picked up Stella from the room. After the newest member of the Strife family had been put to bed and Tifa and Cloud were tucked in – Yuffie and Vincent left the hospital at around 6:30am. The sun was rising and the mist that had formed earlier that morning was beginning to leave the atmosphere. Yuffie breathed in the fresh morning air and smiled. "I love mornings," she confessed. "I mean, I have to admit, sleeping in is the most amazing feeling but waking up and seeing the whole Planet doing the same – I don't know, it's so magical."

"I used to get up every morning and see the sunrise for the past…I don't know when." Vincent said with a slight chuckle. "Now I can't help but sleep in. I'm glad I was able to see this sight today."

"I'm glad you were too," Yuffie grinned at Vincent. She was happy – after all that had just happened – she was happy.

"Let's go," Vincent said, cupping his hand on the side of Yuffie's face. She looked so beautiful in the morning mist. Her hair was cut very short and she wore no make-up but she was still the most beautiful creature on the Planet – Vincent could not imagine not being with her every moment for the rest of his life.

"Okay," Yuffie said leaning into Vincent's hand. "It's somewhere safe, right?"

"Yes," Vincent answered. He used the hand that was cupping her face and reached around her shoulder and brought her closer to him. "At least, I think it's still safe."

Vincent lifted Yuffie up on the Chocobo that he had borrowed from Cloud. The Chocobo purred and croaked a little – it must have been hungry. Vincent was hungry too and he wondered if Yuffie was feeling the same. When he asked, she nodded her head. "Yes," she said. "I'm starving."

They rode through Midgar to a grocery store that had opened early. Yuffie stayed outside with Sora while Vincent searched for something for them to eat. He bought some regular bagels and cream cheese and brought it out for them for breakfast. Sora ate most of the bagels while Vincent and Yuffie only had one each. It was the perfect breakfast for them to have together.

When they had finished their meal, Vincent guided Sora towards their destination. Yuffie sat behind Vincent, arms wrapped around his chest. She was so warm against his back – he was comforted by her presence. He imagined her sitting behind him with her eyes closed and her short black hair that was unaffected by the wind that was blowing slightly against them.

When they finally stopped, Vincent slid off of Sora and lifted Yuffie off as well. She opened her eyes slightly and breathed in. "Where are we?" she asked.

Vincent smiled. "We're at the old Shinra mansion."

"We are?" Yuffie questioned. "It must be dusty."

"I'm sure it is," Vincent said, setting Yuffie down and unlocking the front door. "But there are a few closets that I know of that will have some clean, untouched sheets."

They brought Sora inside of the mansion so as not to draw attention. Vincent had so many memories in this large space. He had kept it some what clean, but not too much simply because he didn't care back then. Looking at it now though, he figured that he should start keeping it beautiful again. He gave Sora the rest of the bagels and left him in the large hall to run around. Vincent then took Yuffie's hand and led her to his old room. The coffin was still there – just as he had left it when he started to help AVALANCHE defeat Kadja. He missed it, he honestly missed it. Yuffie yawned and leaned her head on Vincent's arm. "I need to lay with you…" she said simply, "I need to feel you near me."

"Okay," Vincent said softly. "I'll get some clean blankets and we can make a bed."

--

When Vincent returned from the closet, he found Yuffie lying on the floor on top of the dusty rug – probably picking up all kinds grimy particles. He sighed and lifted her off the ground. She woke just a little bit and was able to sit up as Vincent cleared off the table that held the coffin and dusted it. He then placed the blankets and pillows that he found on the table and scooped Yuffie up and under the covers. He then got into bed with her and held her tight. She held him back and whimpered softly. "Just relax," Vincent said kindly in response. "I'm not letting go of you."

Yuffie hiccupped and sobbed slightly. "I'm sorry…" she began.

"Don't be sorry," he said, thinking that she was talking about the crying.

"No," she said softly. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you."

"Yuffie," Vincent, taking one hand and wiping her tears away. "You…I'm the one that should be sorry."

"I guess none of it matters anymore, right?" she forced a smile with her quivering lips.

"Right," he said, kissing her nose. "I'm here with you now."

"I want to be with you forever," Yuffie sighed, crying softly some more. "I don't think that can happen though."

"Why," Vincent asked, a little heartbroken. "Why do you feel that way?"

"We're very different, Vinnie Boy," she said, brushing a lock of hair away from his eye. "I don't know if we can…"

"Okay," Vincent interrupted. He didn't want to hear anymore. He just wanted to be with Yuffie; he wanted to pretend it was going to be forever – he wanted to pretend they weren't different. He just wanted to be loved by her, even if it was only for this one moment. "I _do _love you" he said. "Everything I ever said to you this week was true."

"I know you love me," she said. "I love you too, I always have and I think I always will, somewhere, deep in my consciousness."

Vincent sighed. "Hold me tighter," he asked her. Yuffie did and kissed his forehead gently, and then she kissed his mouth with a little more force. Vincent liquefied in this kiss – he didn't want it to end so he savored every minute of it.

Yuffie broke the kiss and smiled at Vincent. "I think you're my best-friend," she said.

"Really?" Vincent questioned, he was touched.

"Yes," she said, kissing his lips again. "Do you think we knew each other in a past life?"

Vincent never believed in reincarnation – he grew up thinking it was a load of nonsense. God wasn't fair enough to do something as wonderful as that. But at that moment, his whole attitude changed – why wouldn't God be fair? In every scripture ever written about Him, it said that He loved His children, why wouldn't He give them a second chance or even more than that? Vincent nodded at Yuffie question. "Yes," he replied. "I think we did."

"I wonder if we were lovers," she said, sighing. "I think we were _secret_ lovers."

"Oh really," Vincent said, a-matter-of-fact-like.

"I think you were already married," she said softly. "And I was a single mother of many children. I think we saw each other across the room somewhere or in a market." As she spoke, Yuffie started to produce more tears. This action made Vincent's eyes water as well. "I…" she continued. "I think we fell in love when we saw each other and we became very good friends. Soon, we started to meet with one another, we would meet in secret. It would be a few months before we realized that what we were doing was wrong. I was hurting my children and you were hurting your wife even if they didn't know what was going on – we knew we were going against them."

"Yuffie," Vincent said, a single tear dripped from his wine colored eye down his cheek and to the corner of his mouth. Yuffie kissed the spot where the tear had fallen.

"I think we never saw each other again after that…until now." Yuffie gently cried and a little whimper escaped her lips. "I love you, Vinnie."

"I love you so much, Yuffie." Vincent cried with her. Their foreheads touched and their tears mixed. They were together – they we're finally together. It was the most beautiful moment that they had ever experienced together – there would be no other time like it. Yuffie brought herself closer to Vincent's body and sighed.

"I just want to melt into you," she said softly. Vincent put his chin on top of her head – he said nothing, he felt he didn't need to. It wasn't long before they had both fallen asleep in each other's arms. They were both so very happy. Vincent was Yuffie's and Yuffie was his. Just for this moment, they belonged to each other, connected by unconditional love.

--

_A/N: I usually listen to the song that I feature in this fic with the chapter I am writing. I didn't do that for this one though. I listened to the song __**Starálfur **__by __**Sigur Rós**__. I HIGHLY suggest it._


	19. We'll Go Together

**Chapter 19 - We'll Go Together**

_Darling, stop confusing me  
with your wishful thinking, hopeful embraces  
don't you understand?  
I have to go through this  
I belong in here where no-one cares and no-one loves  
no light no air to live in  
a place called "hate"  
the city of fear!_

_I play dead: it stops the hurting  
I play dead: and the hurt stops_

_It's sometimes just like sleeping  
curling up inside my private tortures  
I nestle into pain  
hug suffering  
caress every ache!_

_I play dead: it stops the hurting_

_**Björk – (Play Dead)**_

--

Yuffie snuggled deeper into her pillow. She had slept very well that day. For you see, no matter how awful Yuffie's life was, in sleep, she died. Well, not literally, but she felt more peace and detachment in sleep than she did at any other time. That was the greatest feeling in the world. To know that you didn't belong to anyone or have any responsibilities or any past heartache that you had to face. Pain and suffering was just a dream, a stuffed animal to curl up next too. Yes, in sleep, Yuffie was free. Yet at around 5pm that very same day – Yuffie awoke from her living death. She was not startled when she opened her eyes; she knew exactly where she was and who she was with. She did have a sudden anxious feeling when she realized what was happening though…

She was being chased by her uncle (no doubt) and her friends, although they were safe for now, were still in danger because of this. She groaned at this thought and turned her body around and lay on the other side. At this she was surprised to find that her lover was no where to be found. An outline of Vincent Valentine's body was all the proof she had that he was with her recently. She sat up in the bed that Vincent had made for them and looked about the dusty old room at the Shinra mansion. Vincent's backpacks were still there with her small suitcase sitting next to them. Where could he have gone, she wondered? Yuffie lifted herself off the bed and slipped her ninja slippers back on. She began walking through the mansion – exploring. She looked in the great hall to see if Sora, the Chocobo, was still there. He was, and when he saw Yuffie he purred and ran towards her, begging for attention. Yuffie smiled at the sight of Sora and pet his head. "Where's Vincent?" she asked him. Sora clucked and nudged her to pet him some more. She sighed and obeyed his command – all the while looking around the room. Suddenly, Yuffie smelled something good…really good. She left Sora to follow the smell. What was it? It was bread, no, it was toast…was that the smell of eggs? She found a stairway that lead down stairs to what seemed like a basement but when she arrived at the bottom, she found that that wasn't what it was at all…it was a kitchen.

Yuffie entered the brightly lit kitchen to find fried eggs on two separate plates with white toast pilled next to it. She saw two large glasses of orange juice and two bowls of cornflakes with brown sugar sprinkled on top. This beautiful sight made Yuffie's mouth water a great deal. Then, from behind her, Yuffie felt cold hands touch her gently on the neck.

"Are you hungry?" Vincent's deep voice made her melt inside. He brought his mouth up to her right ear and kissed it softly. "I was just about to wake you."

"You…" Yuffie tried to find the words. "You made this?"

Vincent let got of Yuffie's neck and turned her around so she was facing him. He put his hands around her waist and she put hers around his neck...well..._half way_ around his neck, because he was so much taller. "I know it's technically dinner time, but I figured since we just got up…"

Yuffie sighed, pulled Vincent close to her face and touched her nose with his. "This is so wonderful…thank you." She kissed him on lips. It was meant to only be a short peck but Vincent glued his mouth to hers. He pulled her hips closer to his and began kissing her harder. After a while they broke the kiss and Yuffie stuck out her tongue in fake annoyance. Vincent jokingly opened his mouth and caught Yuffie's tongue in it as if he meant to swallow it. Yuffie laughed at this and sighed again. "You have bad breath," she said.

"So do you," Vincent said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Yuffie giggled. "Shall we eat this magnificent breakfast of yours then?"

"That sounds excellent," he replied.

The meal that followed was absolutely the best that either of them had ever eaten. Vincent explained that he had gotten up early and could not fall back asleep so he decided to take Sora and buy some groceries. He then went into detail about the attack on the Seventh Heaven and after that Yuffie told Vincent about her struggle with deciding what to do about Aki.

"I'm proud of you," Vincent said, smiling.

Yuffie took a sip of her orange juice. "You are?"

"Yes," Vincent confirmed. "I'm sure it was very, very difficult for you."

"I was _going_ to kill him," Yuffie admitted. "I really was, but…" she paused. Yuffie looked down at her plate – hardly any of her breakfast was left; she had inhaled it.

"But…?" Vincent urged.

"I…I didn't want anyone to die." Her face was full of sorrow. It made Vincent a little uncomfortable.

"That's…good," Vincent tried to encourage. "You made the right choice."

"Did I though," Yuffie pondered. "I should have killed _myself_ instead; I know that's what Jiro wants. I know he just wants my throne so I might as well just _give_ it to him." Yuffie looked up to see how Vincent was reacting and it wasn't pretty.

"I can't _believe_ what I'm hearing," Vincent was livid and it frightened Yuffie. "How could you talk like that?"

"Vincent," Yuffie said softly, trying to calm him down. "I…I want to turn myself in." Vincent rose from his seat when he heard this. He turned from Yuffie and put his hands on his head like he had a migraine. "He won't hurt any of you if I do!" Yuffie continued. "Maybe he'll kill me and maybe he won't, either way…you…my friends are more important than Wutai; than my life."

Vincent was silent – he waited to see if Yuffie had anymore to say. Yuffie realized that maybe this was what he was waiting for, so she continued. "I need to give in, Vincent. I need to give in to the fear and let it eat me up…I need to do this for _you_!"

"_Shut up_," Vincent said with whispered vengefulness. "You're crazy."

He had struck a nerve in the small woman's body. "I AM NOT CRAZY!" Yuffie screamed as she stood from her seat.

"Then what are you!?" Vincent turned and pounded his fists on the table. "Certainly not sane…"

"What do you suppose I do then, huh?" Yuffie came around the table and stood in front of Vincent. "Well? If you're so fucking smart than why don't you tell me what to do!"

Vincent was silent as he looked away from her angry face. Yuffie was deeply offended by this and began hitting his chest. "DAMN IT! TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

Vincent turned his head back around and grabbed Yuffie's fists. She struggled to be set free but Vincent was very persistent. There was nothing else she could do but… "HIIIIYAAAAA!" she screamed and flipped her legs up and kicked Vincent in the face. He wasn't expecting it at all. He let go of Yuffie's hands and bent down rubbing his aching face.

"What the _hell_ did you do that for?" he said.

"Hit me," Yuffie said plainly – taking a fighting stance.

"You're nuts," Vincent sighed.

"HIT ME!" Yuffie screamed. Vincent straightened and starred at Yuffie – un-amused by her actions. At the sight if her majestic Vincent Valentine before her, Yuffie began to sob as she slumped to the floor in defeat.

"I know why you don't want to be with me," Vincent said bluntly, still standing. "You're afraid…you're afraid that it won't be what you _think_ you want it to be. It won't be pleasant most of the time and we _will _fight because we _are_ different, Yuffie, just like you said…" Yuffie hiccupped and sobbed some more. Vincent continued:

"It will definitely be one hell of a relationship...and do you know what?" Vincent bent down to Yuffie's level and reached his hand out to caress her wet face. "_I…don't…care…_"

Yuffie lifted her chin and starred into Vincent's eyes. He smiled at her – she was even beautiful while crying. He wiped the tears away from her face. "The main point is that we love each other," he said. "Nothing should stand in our way…not anyone or anything."

"I…" Yuffie shook as she spoke. "I'm…scared…"

Vincent reached out and hugged her and she hugged him back, burying her face in his chest. "I'm scared too," he admitted. "That's why we need to fight him."

Yuffie looked up from Vincent's chest. "Fight him?" she asked.

"Yes," Vincent said. "We need to destroy him and any of his groupies that try to hurt us and our friends." Yuffie gulped at the thought and Vincent laughed. "Come on," he said, grinning. "Who could be worse than Sephiroth? Nobody, that's who."

Yuffie tried to smile. "Yeah…I…I guess I always just figured Sephiroth was Cloud's fight."

"And he was," Vincent reassured. "But he affected all of us in different ways – Sephiroth was everybody's fight."

"It was still Cloud's story though…now…I guess this is ours."

"Sure," Vincent said, caressing Yuffie's short hair. "How are we going to let this part of the story end?"

Yuffie bent down and hugged Vincent's chest again. "With a victory," she sighed with a smile.

"Good answer," Vincent said, kissing the top of her head.

"You know what," Yuffie said, still hugging her lover. "I think we just switched places."

Vincent thought for a moment and smiled. "Yeah," he said. "I guess we did."

**--**

"What news do you have?" Jiro was furious when he answered his phone.

"Sir!" the blonde man said over the phone. "One of my spies has located Yuffie Kisaragi."

"AND?" Jiro urged.

"She is with Valentine," the blonde man continued. "We await your orders, sir." The man sounded weary, as if he thought it was pointless for them to do anything about it at all.

Jiro thought for a moment – he wasn't one to give up but this whole thing was becoming too much of a hassle. But he _wanted_ the throne and he _wanted _Wutai – he was a businessman…that was his life…his dream. So what if AVALANCHE had defeated Kadja and Sephiroth? He knew he didn't have the fighting skills of either of the two. He was a mere _insect_ compared to Sephiroth and Kadja! The only reason he was still alive now was because of Yuffie fearing for her friend's lives. Valentine would soon knock the sense into her about that. Yes, she might have been a brat and a theif at one point, but she was still The Great Ninja Yuffie who helped her friends in more than a few big scrapes. He was no match, no match for them at all.

"Um…" the blonde man questioned. "Are you still there, Jiro?"

Jiro snapped out of his trance and talked into his phone. "Get _every single_ man and woman you have and meet me on the Highway," he said. "I don't care who your people are or what their specialty is. I'm going to destroy Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi if it's the LAST THING I DO!"

--

"Cloud…"

Cloud Strife had heard his name being called. He looked around the bright room to see who it was…there was no one there…in fact…he didn't even know where "there" was!

"Hello?" Cloud spoke softly. Why couldn't he speak louder? He must have been dreaming…

"Cloud!" the voice said more sternly. At this, Cloud awoke from the limbo dream he had been having. He was in the hospital in Tifa's room and he had been asleep on the chair. He turned to see his wife, standing before him.

"Hi silly sleepy head," she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Tifa," Cloud said groggily. "Why are you standing up?"

"I have working legs, don't I?" Tifa turned around and walked towards the T.V. in her room and turned it on.

"Yes, but," Cloud stood from the chair. "You just gave birth not too long ago."

"Don't you remember how I was with Alan?" Tifa explained. "It took me two days to feel excellent again; now that I've had Stella I feel fine in one day!"

"You certainly do heal quickly," Cloud sighed. He walked over to Tifa and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay." Tifa hugged him back and dug her face into his shoulder.

"I'm glad Stella's okay too," Tifa sighed. "She was early, you know…"

"Yeah," Cloud recalled. "She'll be just like her mom…strong and beautiful." Tifa smiled at these words. All of a sudden, a news flash appeared on the television screen. Tifa and Cloud paid close attention to it when they heard their friends names mentioned:

"_I'm here standing in front of the Midgar Highway where there is much hubbub. If you look behind me there are over one hundred armed men and women blocking the Highway and waiting for two people that they say they were hired to kill. The names of the two people are Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi. The police have made an effort to stop this terrorist attack but have failed several times – sadly due to too many deaths."_

Cloud looked away from the television and starred at Tifa. They held each other tight, totally silent until the buzzing from Cloud's phone startled Tifa. Cloud pulled his cell phone from his pocket and answered it. "Hello?" he asked. It was Vincent on the other line.

"We've got a problem," the gunman said.

--

Vincent and Yuffie had heard about the Highway the very next morning. They had eaten the rest of their food and had gone back to bed that night. In the morning, Vincent cell phone had ringed – it was Cid Highwind. He called and told Vincent that while he was drinking his morning tea he and Shera saw what was happening in Midgar. Let's just say it wasn't the best news to hear in the morning.

"What are we going to do?" Yuffie questioned.

"We're going to face them," Vincent said simply. "And we're going to win."

Yuffie smiled. "Like you said," she took Vincent's hand and held it tight. "My uncle and his goons are no Sephiroth, but there are still _a lot_ of them and…"

"Yes?" Vincent asked.

"And I'm afraid to lose you."

"You won't lose me," Vincent said calmly. He placed the back of his hand on her cheek and caressed her smooth skin. "And I won't lose you either. I'll call Cloud and Barrett; they'll help me get rid of them _and_ your uncle."

"No," Yuffie said. "Cloud has a family and so does Barrett…"

"If that's what's worrying you than…" Vincent chimed in but Yuffie interrupted again.

"Cid has to take care of Shera," she said. "No, Vincent, this is our fight. We can do this, I know we can…we'll…we'll go together."

Vincent smiled down at Yuffie. She was finally being herself – the fighter and the princess she had always been. "Okay," he said. "I'll call Cloud and tell him what's up so that they know not to intervene."

"Right," Yuffie said. "Luckily I packed my weapons with me!" She opened up her suitcase to reveal her Oversized Shuriken and a couple of other tiny ninja stars. Vincent laughed.

"I have got Cerberus on me as well," he said.

"Then this is it?" Yuffie said as she put all of her gear on her. "This is our story?"

Vincent pulled out Cerberus and loaded it. "Yes," he said. "Only, this is just the first chapter."

"I like our story," Yuffie said, reminiscing about something.

Vincent looked at her carefully, wishing he knew what she was thinking. He locked Cerberus when he agreed to her statement. "So do I," he said.

--

_A/N: Sooooo, I was talking to my sister about this fanfic and she was like "wow, it sounds good but it also sounds long," and I was like, "yeah it is." She then asked me who the bad guy was. When I explained Jiro to her she kinda made this face and said, "He sounds lame…" T-T that's when I realized that Jiro __**was lame**__…__**really lame**__. So I decided that this fic needed to end soon (seriously, they had defeated Sephiroth, Kadja, and the Bahamut SIN – Jiro would be a piece of cake!). I'm guestimating 2 more chapters and the fic will end. PLLLLEEAAASSSEEEE enjoy it until it does though! And tell your friends! Yay!!_


	20. True Love and the Ocean

**Chapter 20 - True Love and the Ocean  
**

_We used to swim the same moonlight waters  
Oceans away from the wakeful day_

_My fall will be for you  
My love will be in you  
If you be the one to cut me  
I'll bleed forever_

_Scent of the sea before the waking of the world  
Brings me to thee  
Into the blue memory  
_

_Bring me home or leave me be  
My love in the dark heart of the night  
I have lost the path before me  
The one behind will lead me_

_Take me, cure me, kill me  
Bring me home  
Every way, every day  
Just another loop in the hangman's noose_

_My fall will be for you  
My love will be in you  
You were the one to cut me  
So I'll bleed forever…_

_**Nightwish – (Ghost Love Score)**_

--

"Here they come…" Jiro said with satisfaction.

Vincent and Yuffie came up to the Midgar Highway, hand-in-hand. Yuffie had strapped her Shuriken over her back and her small ninja stars were fastened around her waist. Vincent had Cerberus in a holster around his waist and Death Penalty in another holster under his arm. There seemed to be more goons ready to fight them than they had imagined. It was going to be tough, especially without their friends there, but the lovers were ready for anything.

--

"Vincent," Yuffie said a few minutes before they had left the mansion to go to the Midgar Highway.

"Yes," Vincent questioned. He had just got done taking his turn in the shower. One thing that he learned while being a Turk was to take a shower before duty – if you were meant to die, at least you would die clean. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said softly. "I just love you…I can't stop saying it."

"I hope you never do," he said with a gentle smile. "Remember," he continued. "If anything happens to me, _which nothing will_," he added quickly due to the look on Yuffie's face. "I want you to never give up, okay? Wutai is your throne, your mother's throne, no one else deserves it."

"Okay," Yuffie agreed proudly. "And if anything happens to me, _which nothing will_," she added jokingly; Vincent was only slightly amused. "Then I want you to keep living your life the way you have been since Chaos was gone, promise?"

"I promise," Vincent said, but Yuffie mentioning Chaos made him remember something. "Yuffie," he began. "How did you know Chaos was gone?"

Yuffie smiled and stroked Vincent's cheek, "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I could feel something was different about you…about your soul. You were more at peace and that peace seemed to radiate off your body and touch _my _soul as well as my heart."

Vincent leaned into Yuffie's hand on his face and sighed. "Are you ready, little lady?" he asked.

"Yes," Yuffie said. "Let's kick some ass."

--

"So glad you could make it," Jiro said, standing in front of all the hit-men and assassins that he had hired. The blonde man stood next to him with a large machine gun on his back, grinning menacingly. "I thought your friends would be here. I must say for my sake, I'm glad they are not."

"This fight is between you and me, Jiro!" Yuffie said. "And Vincent Valentine is my life; he is the only one who can help me." She squeezed Vincent's hand when she spoke.

"So be it," Jiro said, stepping out of the way. "Have _fun_."

The blonde man was the first to attack. He pulled out his machine gun and began to fire it at Yuffie. She was quick to respond – she used her Shuriken to block all of the bullets. They ricocheted off and hit a few unsuspecting assassins, killing them instantly. The blonde man was able to dodge them; he was fast, to Yuffie and Vincent's disadvantage. As this happened, Vincent jumped from the Highway road and into the air. He landed on one assassin, crushing him slightly, and fired Cerberus in several directions. He hit a few of the hit-men with his bullets – but most of them escaped. He ran further down the Highway, chasing after the lot of them. Two of them, one male and one female, both had swords. They stopped running and turned to face Vincent; he was unprepared for this and almost ran into them. The woman slashed her sword at Vincent's face, nicking him on the cheek. He then shot Cerberus at her as the man with the sword came behind him and slashed at his back. Vincent groaned with minor pain – luckily he had applied Protect just a few moments ago but all the same, their swords were strong… He turned from the woman and fired at the man – he had hit the man in the face and blew off some of his cheek. This didn't keep the assassin from attacking Vincent again. He threw his sword like a boomerang and hit Vincent's arm. The man caught the sword again and threw it once more. As Vincent saw the man's sword coming towards him, he sensed the woman approaching behind him. Vincent took Death Penalty from his arm and brought it behind his head and at the same time, pointed Cerberus at the sword coming towards his head. He shot the woman with Death Penalty to the ground and stopped the man's sword from hitting him in front with Cerberus. The man who had thrown the sword reacted and started running away – Vincent shot him down.

Yuffie was fighting her own battles a bit farther down from Vincent, where the traffic was still moving on the Highway. She had seen Vincent's struggle with the two swords men but knew that he would be able to handle them on his own. She skillfully jumped across the directory signs above the road – following a fellow ninja. The ninja, a male, had been leading her from the beginning of the fight since the blonde man tried the machine gun on her. It would be awhile before the ninja jumped onto a moving delivery truck. Yuffie jumped onto the truck as well and made the first attack on the ninja. She threw the Shuriken at him, hoping it would hit. It did, but the ninja had dodged it with his sword. It was very much like a samurai sword and just as powerful. The Shuriken came back to Yuffie's hand and she decided to attack the ninja with it just like that. She ran towards him and jumped in the air – ready to strike. When she did, she did over and over. The ninja tried to resist but the frequent attacks that Yuffie gave made the ninja fall to his knees. It wouldn't be too long before she knocked the sword right out of his hands. The ninja then attempted to defeat her by using hand to hand combat, not realizing it was useless now. Yuffie kneed the ninja in the face and he fell off of the moving vehicle and into the road.

--

"How are we doing; are we beating them?" Jiro asked the blonde haired man.

The man looked at Jiro with concern. "They're not _dead yet_ if that's what you mean…"

Jiro looked out at the Highway in disgust. "Do you have any grenades?" he asked the man. The blonde man nodded but hesitated before he gave him one.

"What do you need one for?" he asked.

--

Vincent had finally made his way to the part of the Highway that was still in working order. He had fought off a few more assassins before making his way there. He saw Yuffie fighting a woman with a gun – she couldn't get any closer to attack the woman because the gun shots were forceful. Vincent dodged in front of Yuffie and shot the woman in the head.

"Are you all right?" he asked Yuffie.

"I'm okay," Yuffie said. "How many more of these creeps do we have left?"

"I haven't been keeping count," Vincent admitted.

"I think I've killed about 20," Yuffie said seriously, but Vincent laughed.

"Good for you," he put his hand on her shoulder.

"So we've got…like, roughly…30 more to go?" Yuffie said, as she spoke, Yuffie accidentally lost her footing on the truck, but Vincent caught her arm in time.

"That's what I'm hoping," he said, pulling her back up. Suddenly, the truck came to a stop. Vincent and Yuffie held their grip as the vehicle jerked.

"What happened?" Yuffie questioned. The driver of the truck and all of the other people in their cars jumped out and ran off the Highway in a panic. "Where are they all going?"

Then, to the lovers' surprise, the blonde man and two other men attacked them from behind. Yuffie took her Shuriken and hit one across the face where Vince took Cerberus and shot one in the chest. The blonde man, still alive, took out a weapon that Vincent and Yuffie did not recognize…It was a sword…with a gun attached to it. Vincent had heard of these weapons, they were called "gunblades," fairly new and yet to be mastered. But it seemed the blonde man new what he was doing with it. The blonde man noticed Vincent and Yuffie's confusion on his weapon and explained: "A present from Uncle Jiro," he said in a cocky tone. Yuffie lunged at the blonde man with rage. She threw the Shuriken at him but it was repelled by the sword part of the weapon. The blonde man then turned to Vincent and shot him with the gun. Vincent dodged the bullet and shot at the blonde man. The fight continued on like this for awhile – Yuffie had eventually been hit in the leg by one of the bullets from the gunblade and began to bleed. Seeing Yuffie fall to the Highway made him furious and he kicked the blonde man in the face. The blonde man stumbled slightly and shot at Vincent.

Yuffie stood on the leg that wasn't hurt and watched Vincent and the blonde man get at each other. Suddenly, Yuffie noticed a small vehicle pull up not too far from where they were located. She squinted her eyes to see who it was in the car and realized, to her horror, that it was her uncle. Jiro stepped out of the car with a grenade in his hand and pulled the cap. Yuffie saw that he didn't notice she was there. She reached into her pocket, took out a potion that she brought with her, drank it, and ran towards her uncle. He was aiming the grenade towards Vincent and the blonde man – she was thief, she could steal it from him without any problem. The only thing was that it was ready to blow. What could she do? She promised Vincent that she would rule the throne…but she knew she had to save his life – she _was not_ going to let her uncle kill him. Her fall would be for Vincent.

Vincent had shot at the blonde man, hitting him in the shoulder, as the blonde man was stumbling to the ground, Vincent noticed that Yuffie was not in the same place she was the last time he checked. He looked around, worried to death, until he noticed her running towards a man outside of his car. Vincent's eyes widened when he noticed that the man was Jiro, and that he was holding a grenade.

Yuffie continued to run towards Jiro and it was only a matter of minutes before he noticed her approaching. Yuffie was about to dive and snatch the grenade out of his hand when something hit her back. It was painful, and she realized she was falling to the ground. Yuffie tried to move her legs or even open her mouth to scream…but she couldn't. The pain was excruciating and it seemed to numb her whole body – even her brain. When she fell, the last thing she remembered was Vincent screaming, and then everything went black.

--

Jiro looked up to smile at the blonde man for killing Yuffie just in time, but instead his gaze met Vincent Valentine's. Jiro was stunned; there Vincent Valentine stood, not 15 feet away with Cerberus raised. Tears were pouring from Vincent's eyes and his hand shook on the trigger of Cerberus. He had just killed Yuffie…Jiro wondered if Vincent had realized this.

"I suppose I should thank you," Jiro said.

"_Shut the fuck up_," Vincent said with much hatred. His deep voice and teary glare made Jiro scarred out of his wits.

"Why…" Jiro asked, shaking. "Why did you kill her?"

"Why don't you _shut up_ like I asked you to," Vincent said, his voice cracked a little towards the end of the sentence. He was burning inside; he wouldn't have been surprised if he got third degree burns under his skin. His heart was aching and it wouldn't shock him if his heart literally broke into a million pieces at that moment. His eyes burned with salty tears as his mind slowly but surely gained back the power to think. Vincent lowered Cerberus and looked at the lifeless body of his love on the ground next to his feet. He looked back up at Jiro and spread his arms out wide, as if he was going to take flight.

"Kill me," Vincent said. "Throw the grenade at me…I have nothing else to live for."

Jiro regained his courage and snickered. "What makes you think that I would obey your wishes?"

"If you don't kill me now," Vincent said with a threatening tone. "Then I will hunt you like a hungry beast for the rest of your life until you are as dead as I once was."

"I see," Jiro said, gulping. "Well then," he let go of the grenade and tossed it at Vincent in a very casual way. "See you in Hell, Mr. Valentine."

"No," Vincent said as his form began to change. "You won't…"

In that instant, Vincent transformed into Galian Beast. The grenade hit him in the chest and exploded. Vincent could hear the sound of Jiro's cry as the fire from the grenade burned him alive. Vincent's chest began to burn as well so he let himself be blown backwards from the detonation. "I'm sorry…Yuffie…" he whispered to himself as everything around him went dark.

--

_The sun is casting shadows_

_An afternoon is fading_

_I ask, but no one knows_

_the answer to the question,_

"_My life is like an island;_

_where does this ocean go?"_

_Troy and Yoko Kanno – (Where Does This Ocean Go?)_

--

"Why are you sorry?" Vincent heard a soft voice speak.

Vincent opened his eyes. He was starring up at the deep blue sky – not a cloud was in sight. He moved his hand to feel what sort of ground her was on…it was sand. It was so warm and rough – it comforted him greatly. The ocean he knew was the rumbling that he heard not too far away from him. Vincent sighed deeply and smiled.

"Ahem," the voice said again. "Aren't you going to answer my question?"

Vincent looked his left to see who was talking, and Yuffie Kisaragi smiled at him. "Yuffie," Vincent said. "I…you…we…"

"Yep," Yuffie said. She stretched her arms up high in the air, yawned, and brought them back down behind her. "We're dead Vinnie Boy."

"I had a feeling," Vincent said, frowning.

"I've only been here for a few minutes," Yuffie said. "I think I'm already getting a tan…"

Vincent sat up from the sand and looked out at the ocean in front of him. He then turned his head to see that there was a large cliff behind them that must have went up 50 feet. He turned to Yuffie and asked, "Is this Heaven?"

Yuffie shrugged, "I don't know, I haven't seen anyone else." They were both silent for a few moments; the ocean's bellow soothed their fear and worry – and the calm waves gently hitting the sandy shore almost rocked them both to sleep. It was just a few minutes later that Yuffie spoke again. "Why did you shoot me?" she asked.

If they were anywhere else on the Planet, Vincent would have tensed up and tripped over his words – but they weren't on the Planet, they were somewhere else more beautiful than their earth, so Vincent stayed tranquil. "I didn't want you to be killed by _him_…" Vincent said simply.

"I see," she said. She still didn't quite understand his reason, but there was nothing she could do now.

"I'm sorry," he said. He brought his head down and sighed. "I didn't actually think I'd kill you…"

"What?" Yuffie asked, she put her arms around him and he willfully leaned into her chest.

"I didn't shoot you in a vital spot on your back," he said. "I only shot you on the lower hip…"

Yuffie pondered for a moment. "How did _you_ die?" she asked him, stroking his cheek.

"I turned into Galian Beast when Jiro threw the grenade at me – most of the fire repelled off of my chest and hit him, killing him, and then the force of the explosion carried me backwards…seconds later, I was here." Vincent sighed again, leaning deeper into her chest.

Yuffie smiled, "I don't think we're _quite_ dead."

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked.

--

"Oh God," Tifa screamed. She was tumbling through the wreckage on the Highway. "Cloud, they're over here! Come quick!"

--

"That makes sense," Vincent agreed to Yuffie's theory.

"I'm going to miss this place," Yuffie said sadly. "I wonder if we'll ever see it again."

"I'm sure we will," Vincent chuckled. "For now," he said, taking her hand and leaning back onto the sand. "Let's just lay here and enjoy it."

"Okay, I love you, Vinnie." Yuffie said softly.

"I love you too," he said, closing his eyes. "I'll see you on the other side."

--

_A/N: __**One more chapter!!**__ I would like to take the time now to thank __**Kaarina Helvete**__ for reviewing the most, adding this story to her favs, and being the most supportive during my time writing this story. I would also like to thank __**EvilBlanket**__ for reviewing, and __**ChristalSteele**__ and __**Kai Shinimoto**__ for reviewing (as well as adding this story to their favorites). Thanks to all the other members who have added this Yuffietine to their favs and alerts as well! __It means so much to me!_


	21. You're My Friend

**Chapter 21 - You Are My Friend**

_Dearest - though you're the nearest to my heart  
please don't ever - umm ya  
ever say we'll part_

_You scold and you were so bold  
yes together - umm ya  
our love will grow old - umm ya  
our love will grow old…_

_You may be a million miles away  
please believe me - umm ya  
when you hear me say  
I love you - I love you_

_Come home - keep me from these sleepless nights  
try my love again - umm ya  
I'm gonna treat you right - umm ya  
I'm gonna treat you right…_

_Buddy Holly – (Dearest)_

--

"Is it working?" Tifa asked, crying. "We weren't too late were we?"

Cloud and Tifa had taken Vincent, who was no longer Galian Beast, and Yuffie's lifeless bodies and set them on the side of the road next to one another. Cloud shook his head, "I don't know…Phoenix Down only works when someone else is alive in the party."

"Aren't we considered the 'party'?" Tifa was starting to choke on her words. "I mean, we saw Vincent get hurt…" At that moment Tifa and Cloud heard a moaning sound. They both turned their heads to see Yuffie squeezing her eyes together and Vincent lifting his head and coughing.

"Oh my God," Vincent managed to get out.

"Vincent! Yuffie!" Tifa squealed. "You're okay!"

--

The rest of the day was sort of a blur. The last thing Vincent recalled was being taken aboard Cid's ship The Sierra and lying on a cot next to Yuffie. His head was killing him and his back felt no less than busted. Hopefully some Cure would finish the job in no time. He managed to turn his head to the side to see Yuffie sleeping peacefully next to him. She was more than likely in pain as well – but that wasn't going to stop her from getting the rest that she so rightly deserved. Vincent smiled at the sight of her; he was so overwhelmed with pride for her. She really did earn every title that she ever had. Yuffie Kisaragi was definitely The Great Ninja Yuffie. He made an effort to lift his hand and touch her short hair. He closed his eyes as he did this and took in Yuffie's intoxicating presence. He didn't know what the future had in mind for him but right now none of that mattered. He and Yuffie had survived together – life was pretty good.

--

Cloud and Tifa had not taken Yuffie and Vincent to the hospital. Instead, they brought them back to the Seventh Heaven where they found Barret and the Turks (Reno, Rude, Tseng and Elena) hard at work fixing up the bar as a surprise.

"Aw man!" said Reno with an annoying tone. He had a hammer in his hand and was in the middle of fixing the front door. "We thought you guys wouldn't be back for awhile!"

Cid and Cloud were carrying the stretcher with Vincent on it while Shera and Tifa were holding the one with Yuffie. Tifa was so happy to see her friends fixing up the bar that she smiled from ear to ear.

"Oh Reno!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"

Reno smiled bashfully and twirled the hammer in his hand, "Ah don't mention it, Teef." It was then that he noticed them carrying Yuffie and Vincent. "Shit, what happened to them?"

"Every God-damn thing, that's what!" Cid said.

"Geez," Reno opened the front door for them to be let inside. "The rest of the place is nearly finished. It should be livable now."

--

Their friends had taken them to Cloud and Tifa's room. Vincent noticed that the window was fixed and the rest of the room had been cleaned. He also noticed a few new baby toys on ground, most of them were pink. The Turks had bought little Stella gifts…how cute.

After their friends had put them onto Cloud and Tifa's bed and left the room, Vincent turned his head and looked at Yuffie. Her eyes were still shut but her face was tense.

"Yuffie," Vincent questioned. "Are you awake?"

Yuffie sighed and opened her eyes. "Yes," she said. "I'm awake."

"Are you in pain?" he asked.

"A little," she responded. "But the Cure is working fairly fast. Are you?"

"No," he said truthfully. "Not really."

"I'm glad," she said, smiling.

"It's good to see you smile," Vincent sighed. He reached out his hand and stroked her cheek. "I missed it."

"Hmmm," Yuffie murmured. "_I_ missed your touch."

"You did?" Vincent said with joy.

Yuffie nodded silently. "Can I fall asleep in your arms again?" she asked suddenly.

Vincent was going to question why she would want to fall back asleep again, but decided that having her be in his arms was better than a silly question. "Yes," he said, "of course, I'll treat you right…"

--

It would be a few hours before Vincent would awaken from his sleep with Yuffie. Only, when he woke up, Yuffie wasn't there. He stood up from the bed and looked at himself in Tifa's mirror. All of his scratches were gone and his back felt amazing. Yup, it was official, the Cure had finally worked. Vincent heard Barret laughing downstairs and Yuffie yelling. "Oh good," Vincent said aloud. "She's okay."

He made his way downstairs to find everyone, even the Turks and little Stella in Tifa's arms, hanging around the bar listening to Yuffie's story.

"…and then, Vincent was like, 'Bitch! Get away from my girl!' and _POW POW_!" She made her fist look like a gun and she pretended to shoot in Reno's direction.

"Oh, you got me!" Reno said dramatically, falling into Rude's arms. Rude looked at his partner with disgust and dropped him to the floor. Everyone, especially the children, started laughing at this sight.

Yuffie laughed until she saw Vincent on the stairs. She smiled at him softly and ran to his side. "C'mon Vinnie Boy!" she said, grabbing his arm. "Join the party!"

--

The party lasted the whole day and into the night. The Turks would keep saying that they had business to attend to but Yuffie would not allow them to leave – they, of course, were more than happy to oblige. Vincent started getting a kick out of Alan giving Stella very strange and confused looks as if wondering what this new creature in his Mother's arms was. Cloud and Tifa explained to the Turks about the crazy attack on the Seventh Heaven that they had to stop, while Denzel and Marlene sat quietly in the corner discussing stuff about school and friends that they had in common.

By the time dinner time came around, everyone started leaving; first the Turks, than the Highwind's, the Wallace's, and finally Yuffie and Vincent said their "thank yous" and started to leave.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Tifa said.

"No," Vincent said, hugging her goodbye. "You should spend time with your kids and Cloud. You guys deserve a little break from guests."

--

After saying their goodbyes Yuffie and Vincent absentmindedly walked together through the streets of Midgar and to the docking bay for the Air Ships. Yuffie looked at the schedule to see when the next one would be leaving for Wutai. "In a few minutes," she sighed. "I guess I'll be leaving sooner than I had hoped."

"Yeah," Vincent said, sighing. He wanted to ask Yuffie if he could go with her – but that would be wrong…he knew it.

"Don't be sad, Vinnie Boy," Yuffie said, touching his arm. "I…lo-" she looked away and bit her lip, "I can't divorce him, Vinnie."

"I know," Vincent said plainly. "You have dreams and you have a duty. The last thing I want to be is the destroyer of those things."

Yuffie dropped her head in sorrow. "I wish things were different," she said sadly.

"I don't," Vincent said and Yuffie looked at him with surprise. "This is our story; this is our lifetime that we _have_ to live together. Wishing won't make it all go away, nothing will…just like you said before, about whom we were in our last lives. What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't want you any different Yuffie, not for anything."

"So," Yuffie said. "You're willing to sacrifice everything that we have together…for me and what I believe needs to be done?"

"I'm the sacrificing kind of guy I guess," he said sadly.

"I suppose I should thank you," she said, almost coldly.

"Yuffie," Vincent sighed.

"And I give you permission to be with another girl if you want," she said, staring blankly at the floor.

Vincent was silent, had he said the wrong thing? He wanted Yuffie to fix Wutai and stay a ruler. If she divorced Aki for unnecessary reasons and got married to him, the people and the board would hate her and both of those things, Wutai and the throne would be taken away. It was a risk in Yuffie's future that Vincent would not allow…why didn't she see that?

"I just want you to know though," Yuffie said, lifting her head and looking back at Vincent. "No matter what, Vinnie, I will ALWAYS be your friend."

"Yuffie," Vincent said again. "Please understand that I'm doing this for you…because I love you."

"I know," she said coldly. "Thank you…"

"NEXT SHIP DOCKING BOARD E-5 LEAVING FOR WUTAI IN 5 MINUTES," the announcement said over the speakers.

"I guess I better go…" Yuffie said, walking away. "I'll miss you Vinnie Boy, keep in touch okay?"

"Yuffie, I…" He didn't want her to go just yet. "Yuffie, please…I…"

"Vincent," Yuffie said calmly. "I'll always love you…"

Vincent stopped and sighed; he knew that he was losing her. "I will always love you and be your friend too."

Yuffie stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I will see you as my lover in another life…" she sighed – tears running down her eyes.

"Yes," Vincent choked out – he was crying as well. "As my lover…"

"Goodbye, love," she said softly.

"Goodbye, little one," Vincent sighed. He hugged her tight for a few moments then let her go.

She waved to him as she walked to the E-5 docking bay. She boarded the Air Ship with grace and style and Vincent watched it take off towards Wutai. He stood there, dumbfounded at what had just happened. He let the love of his life slip from his grasp…but he knew that it was the only thing he could do for her, perhaps she would one day forgive him for sacrificing their love. Maybe not…maybe one day he would forgive _himself_ for it. Either way, he wouldn't have it any other way…he wanted Yuffie to be safe and cared for. Hopefully she will see that when all of her dreams about Wutai come true – that Vincent really did love and care deeply about her. She promised she'd be his friend and that was enough for him if that's all they were aloud to give.

At that moment, Vincent received a text message on his phone. He picked up his phone and opened it. The text was from Yuffie. Vincent did not hesitate to read it and when he did he smiled, for it read:

"_You r my friend…I'd kill you 4 nothing ;-)"_

**THE END**

_A/N: It's over!! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Sorry it took so long...I'm off to England for three months and I just could not find the time to write it. Don't worry…THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL. At least, I think (hehe). Soooo, I didn't make up the whole "I'd kill you for nothing" phrase. That's from a Marx Brothers movie called The Cocoanuts. In which Chico Marx says to his brother Harpo: "I really could use some money. I would kill for money…I would kill YOU for money!" Then Harpo looks down at the floor really sad like and Chico says: "I'm just kidding, you're my friend…I'd kill you for nothing" or something along those lines. If you liked this fic let me know in a review! Thanks!! Love & Peace!_


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